Recipe: Cheesy, Oven-Baked Fennel That’ll Have You Going Back for Seconds

Even if you don’t love fresh fennel, you should still give this creamy, cheesy oven-baked version a try. While fresh fennel has a strong anise flavour, cooking it mellows its flavour and brings out a natural sweetness, making it more enjoyable for many people.

The thinly sliced fennel is topped with layers of bechamel and cheese, then baked until tender and bubbly on top, creating a delicious golden crust. It pairs beautifully with pasta, fish or meat.

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Finocchi al forno by Francesco Mattana

Serves 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

2 large fennel bulbs
100g Grana Padano or parmesan, grated

For the bechamel
25g unsalted butter
25g plain (all-purpose) flour
300ml (1¼ cups) whole (full-cream) milk
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of freshly ground nutmeg

Method

First, make the bechamel. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the flour, stirring continuously until it forms a smooth paste (the roux). Keep cooking for 1 minute.

Add the milk gradually, stirring continuously with a whisk to avoid any lumps. Continue to stir and cook for 6–8 minutes until the mixture starts to thicken.

If the bechamel becomes too thick, you can add a little more milk to reach the right consistency.

Remove the pan from the heat and season with salt, pepper and the nutmeg. Give it a good stir and make sure the bechamel is nice and smooth. The consistency should be between a custard-like texture and double (heavy) cream.

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan.

Remove the stalks from the fennel bulbs and save them in the refrigerator (these can be used instead of celery in a soffritto or to make stock). Slice the fennel into 5mm pieces and wash them in plenty of cold water. Drain any excess water and set aside.

Spread a third of the bechamel over a large baking tray (pan), then lay out the sliced fennel evenly. Spread the remaining bechamel on top, making sure all the fennel slices are well covered. Sprinkle the cheese over the top.

Bake in the oven for 20–25 minutes, or until the top starts bubbling, turns golden and is slightly charred. Serve immediately while still nice and warm.

Notes

Try this with a sprinkle of homemade pangrattato (see below) on top, which gives it a delicious crunch.

You can also substitute the fennel for thickly sliced cauliflower or broccoli.

Pangrattato

Makes 1 x 500g jar
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

300g leftover or stale bread, chopped into small chunks
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
30g bunch of parsley, stalks discarded
2 large garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp dried oregano
1 sun-dried tomato
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Put the bread, olive oil and a generous pinch of salt and pepper into a large frying pan over a medium-high heat and toast for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Transfer the toasted bread to a food processor and add the parsley, garlic, oregano and sun-dried tomato. Blitz it all together until a rough breadcrumb has formed, and you don’t see any large pieces of garlic, parsley or sun-dried tomato. Avoid over-blending, as you want the pangrattato to have a rough texture. If you are working with a small food processor, do this in batches.

Transfer the breadcrumb mixture back to the frying pan and continue to cook it over a medium heat, stirring constantly until it is golden and brown all over. This could take 10–15 minutes or more, depending on how stale your bread is.

Once the breadcrumbs are golden and lightly crispy, transfer them to a large baking sheet, spread them out evenly and leave them to cool. Once cooled and fully dry, transfer the breadcrumbs to a sterilised and well-dried jar with an airtight seal and keep them in the refrigerator, or you can freeze them for months and just take out as much as you need each time.

Notes

Bear in mind that the breadcrumbs will dry out completely while cooling, so don’t overcook them as this will result in very dark breadcrumbs with a bitter aftertaste.

Make sure that the pangrattato is completely cool before storing it. Any residual heat can create condensation in the jar that will develop bacteria and will lead to spoilage.

If you want to keep pangrattato in the pantry, use only dried herbs (like dried oregano, dried rosemary, etc.) and do not use any fresh ingredients (like garlic or fresh herbs). Fresh ingredients contain moisture, which can cause the breadcrumbs to spoil faster, leading to mould or bacterial growth.

Images and text are an edited extract from Eat Like A Sardinian by Francesco Mattana, photography by Dave Brown. Murdoch Books RRP $45.00.