This is one of my favourite recipes to make when I’m feeling lazy or I’m cooking for one. Apart from chopping a few bits, the oven does all the hard work for you! Once roasted, the strong aniseed flavour mellows and caramelises into a sweet, soft partner to the pasta, jazzed up with a bit of chilli, garlic and lemon. I had a handful of lonely spinach leaves which I added this time around, use this recipe as a base to add or remove bits as your fridge allows. Let me know where this recipe takes you.
Ingredients
- 1 large fennel bulb (or 2 small ones, whatever you have)
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1/2 – 1 chilli to taste, finely chopped
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- good olive oil
- your choice of pasta
- parmesan
Method
- Preheat your oven to 180C.
- Cut your fennel into slices about 1cm thick. Toss into a small roasting dish with the garlic, chilli, a very generous glug of olive oil and about 1/3 cup water.
- Cover the dish with foil and bake for about 30 minutes or until the fennel is soft.
- Remove the foil and cook for a further 40 minutes or so until golden. When the fennel is done, cook your pasta.
- Toss the fennel, pasta, zest and juice with an extra lug of oil or two with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle parmesan on top and enjoy!
