Pernod Roasted Fennel and Potato

Regular readers will know of my love for fennel, both the fresh bulb with its mild aniseed flavour and fennel seeds that have a more intense and heady aniseed aroma and taste, almost verging on liquorice. The fresh bulb works wonders in a multitude of savoury dishes such as fennel risotto or a punchy curried fennel and carrot soup whilst the fennel seeds work in both savoury and sweet dishes; in a sort of miracle-of-wonders, salted-caramel kind of vibe, the liquorice sweetness kicks in.

I think it’s a bit of an unsung hero of the vegetable world and yes, I realise that aniseed as a taste can be polarising but sliced ultra-thinly in a layered beetroot and fennel salad with a sharp lemony sauce, it’s a taste of Mediterranean heaven on a plate which I think is what we need in these cold wintery days.

METHOD
This is a great side dish for eating with your favourite protein – it works particularly well with barbecued salmon or a roast chicken but I also think it works well as a stand-alone vegetarian main with a salad and some of your favourite cheese… there’s really nothing to it other than slowly roasting the vegetables in oil and a little Pernod but it’s a taste sensation well worth sharing.

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
• Place the potatoes and fennel into a roasting tin, add the oil, dash of Pernod and herbs and toss around. Roast for half an hour until the potatoes are golden and the fennel is beginning to blacken.
• Take out of the oven, lay the tomatoes on top, drizzle over a little balsamic vinegar and then roast again for 15 min until it’s all tender.

We Recommend

Carrot Cake Swirl Buns

Prosecco fish pie

Asparagus, Pea and Potato Frittata

Pan fried sea bass with sautéed potatoes and green goddess dressing

Venison picadillo

Venison sausage and potato pizza with mozzarella and thyme

View all