Spring is here! Veggie Exploration: Fennel

In this last month of work on my thesis project, I am determined to cook more.  "How can one do that with so little time, energy, and sleep," you ask?  I'm wondering the same thing...  my hope is that this will provide just enough distraction and procrastination for me to really buckle down and do so while being well fed.

With the amount of goodies to be found at the farmers markets these days, I am determined to learn how to work with the many wonderful spring and summer veggies that are out there.  Today I begin with fennel...

This wonderful herb has hints of anise flavors and used in a variety of ways (including absinthe!).  Its seeds can be used as a spice (see: Fennel and Sage Crusted Pork Tenderloin), while the bulb is used as a vegetable.  The first time I fell in love with its fresh summer flavors was last summer when I was living in Rome.  It was prepared simply in a chopped salad with olive oil and lemon juice.

My version of a fennel citrus salad, crunchy and divine, served with a quick and easy lemon butter baked halibut steak made my night feel like spring.  Here's this meal's bleuprint.

photo: amy perenchio

Fennel Citrus Salad
Recipe by Amy Perenchio, Serves: 2

1 large fennel bulb
1 large grapefruit (You can sub this out for an orange, but the grapefruit at City Market looked too good to pass up.)
1/2 Lemon

Slice the white bulb of the fennel as thinly as possible.  I just use a knife to do this, but I think there are fancier tools (mandoline) out there to make perfectly thin slices.  Rip a few leaves off of the fennel stalk and roughly chop.  Place both the slices and the leaves into a mixing bowl.  Roll the lemon on counter, slice in half and juice one half into the bowl.  Be careful to catch all seeds.  Slice the grapefruit and put into bowl.  Gently toss.  Eat, enjoy!



Easy-Bake Lemon Butter Halibut
Recipe by Amy Perenchio, Serves: 1

1 Halibut Steak
1/2 Lemon
1 Tbs. Butter
Lemon Pepper (Salt Free)
Kosher Salt

Pre-heat oven to 450F.

While oven is warming, put butter in a glass baking dish and put into the oven until melted.  Remove from oven.  Rub steak with mixture of lemon pepper and kosher salt.

I use the Spice Hunter's Salt Free Lemon Pepper so that I am in control of how salty my dish ends up.

photo: amy perenchio

Place halibut steak into baking dish to coat with butter and flip so that both sides are coated evenly.  Slice a single slice from the half of lemon and place on the steak.  Squeeze the remaining half over the fish.  Bake 4-6 minutes per 1/2 inch of thickness of fish.  Mine took 12 minutes total.  Eat, enjoy!

photo: amy perenchio

Please note:  To ensure that everything in this dish is gluten-free, please make sure the lemon pepper you are using is gluten-free as well.

The meal that began it all.

Cooking makes me happy.  Almost as happy as architecture, red wine, and yoga.  A day that involves all four of these, well... thats a perfect day.  I am an architecture grad student with a taste for good food and am a creative soul always up for a culinary adventure.  

The basis for this blog began last night as I sat down to dinner.  My epic "clean-out-the-fridge" night... with photos taken, I felt that I had too much to say just to post it to facebook.  I needed a place where my epic meals and failures could be documented, recipes written down, and shared for this audience of who-ever you might be.

Armed with a tummy full of leftovers and a big glass of red wine, I begin. 

I stopped in at Fred Meyer on my way home from work yesterday to pick out a protein to go with my meal.  Craving fish, I was pleased to find that Cod fillets were on sale... $3/lb!  (Looking back, I now realize how this could have been really horrible.)  At home I found odds and ends left from the cooking adventures Nick and I had last week.  Looking for something to go with the fish, I found half a bunch of cilantro.  Eager to try out my new food processor (thanks to a generous hand-me-down from my Aunt Vicki), I decided to try to make a pesto with it and anything else I could find.  

Served on top of cod and white rice, this creation is one that I am proud of.  Every building needs a blueprint in order to be built.  This is my bleuprint for this meal:

Cod topped with Cilantro-Pecan Pesto

White Rice (Or Brown)

1 Cod fillet   (Other white fish could work too.)

Pinch Kosher Salt

Fresh Ground Pepper

Olive Oil

Half-bunch cilantro

Handful of Raw Pecans (I have small hands... so about 10-15?)

2 Cloves of garlic (halved)

1 Tbs. Lemon Juice (Just two generous squeezes, fresh lime juice could be good, lemon is all I had)

Half of a 4 oz can of Diced Green Chiles (Roasted hatch green chiles could work, and would add some heat)

Olive Oil

Pinch Kosher Salt to taste

Orange zest (For flavor and garnish)

Rice:  Prepare the rice as directed on the package.  This will take the longest to make, so do it first.

Fish:  Rinse the fish, dry, and rub with olive oil, kosher salt, and black pepper.  Place on a cooling rack over a baking sheet.  (Make sure the baking sheet has edges to catch fish juices... as mine did not and I ended up making a little mess.)  Place in oven 4" from top, and broil at 450F until done.  It took mine 10 minutes to finish.

photo: amy perenchio

Pesto:  While rice and fish are cooking, place pecans in food processor and gently pulse until broken apart.  Add cilantro, garlic, green chiles, and lemon juice.  Process until cilantro leaves are chopped.  Begin to add olive oil until desired consistency is reached.  Add kosher salt to taste.

Plate:  Put down a bed of rice, place fish, generously smear the pesto on top, and garnish with a little orange zest.  (You can use a different citrus fruit, but this was clean-out-the-fridge night, and it needed to be used.)

Eat: Enjoy!

photo: amy perenchio