After laboriously harvesting well over an ounce of fennel pollen we focused on a dish that would highlight the flavor of the famed pixie dust without overpowering its delicate vibe. Fortuitously enough, tomato season really starts to hit at the same time the forests of wild fennel bear their yellow fruit. By using every edible part of the fennel plant (bulb, stem, leaves, seeds, and pollen) and a gloriously ripe Japanese tomato, this dish covers every inch of one of our favorite veggies.
Serves two.
2 Fennel bulbs
1/4 cup Jasmine rice
1/2 cup water
1. Trim the stems off of a Florence (non-wild) fennel bulb, reserving the leaves (the part that looks like dill) for later. Slice them thinly into rounds.
2. Combine the rice, water and sliced fennel stems and bring to a boil. Reduce to medium heat and cook until the rice has absorbed the water, approximately 30 minutes.
2 Fennel bulbs (above)
1 Ripe tomato
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, minced
1 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. Fennel seeds
3/4 cup rosé, or white zinfandel
2 tsp. sea salt
3. Scrub the fennel bulbs with cold water, then slice off the very bottom of the bulb. Quarter the bulbs standing them upright.
4. In a medium sized pan, sauté the garlic and shallots in olive oil for three minutes. Add the fennel, sliced face downwards, and the fennel seeds. Cover the pan for about three minutes so it regains its heat.
5. Cut your tomato in half. Slice both halves, cut side down, thinly. Reserve one sliced half for plating.
6. Add half of the sliced tomato to the pan and dump in the rosé and the salt. Cover the pan immediately and let cook for fifteen minutes.
4 Tbs. of a flavorful Olive oil
2 tsp. Fennel pollen
2 tsp. fennel leaves, minced
7. Toss the rice with the olive oil, and place two small mounds on each plate. Place one roasted bulb of Fennel on each mound of rice, and then gently top with the reserved slices of fresh tomato. Spoon the reduced wine sludge on each plate, and then liberally dust the tomatoes with fennel pollen, and the minced leaves.
Beverage: St. Feuillian Brune
Soundtrack: Scratch Perry’s “White Belly Rat”
