Roasted Fennel Bulbs

This past week has been pretty hectic and trying to find time to write a post has been difficult.  I made this dinner a few days ago, but haven't had the time to share it. It has been fun though, going through the pile and looking for things that are in season to make.  Right now there are wild rice cookies in the oven that I will post another day. But today I want to tell you about the roasted fennel bulbs I made!

I've never been a huge fan of the fennel/anise flavor. So I knew this was going to be an interesting dinner and that I may need to make a second one in case this didn't taste good. But I was pleasantly surprised, this was soooo good! I think the roasting really tamed the fennel flavor and made it really enjoyable. It had almost a bok choy texture with much more flavor. With it I made a wilted beet green salad with pine nuts.  I accidentally used way too much oil with the wilted greens, so be careful with your pour. Luckily the orange segments seemed to clean the palate between bites. 

Both of these recipes are adapted from Vegetarian Times Magazine: 

Roasted Fennel

2 Tbs olive oil (I used coconut oil and it still tasted great)

4 cloves garlic minced

1 Tbs red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp fresh ground black pepper

3 medium fennel bulbs, quartered

1. Preheat oven to 350F. (They recommended almost 100 above that but I found it started to smoke and burn too quickly.) Coat baking sheet with cooking spray.

2. Blend oil, garlic, vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper until smooth. Toss fennel with oil mixture.

3. Place fennel on baking sheet and roast 35 to 40 minutes.

Optional: They suggested adding in Parmesan and tossing it with the fennel before roasting. 

Wilted Beet Greens with Pine Nuts

1/4 cup pine nuts

2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

1 large shallot, peeled and sliced

2 Tbs olive oil

1 orange

1 bunch of beet greens, cut into 2 inch strips (I only used 1 beet from the garden for this)

1. Place pine nuts, garlic slices, shallot slices, and olive oil in small skillet, and cook over low heat 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

2. Separate orange into slices and cut into chunks. 

3. Stir in beet greens in the skillet for 1-2 minutes, until beet greens are wilted. Plate it up and top with the orange segments.