02 August 2008

Help me, Internet-Wan, you're my only hope!

This showed up in our CSA box this week.

puzzling vegetable


What the hell is it? I am unable to deduce this vegetable's identity from the list for this week's box

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is it endive?

Cara dB said...

Maybe. Like a straight kind of curly endive?

I just smelled the foliage and it's very anise-y if you rub it between your fingers. ... could it be fennel?

constance said...

Good job! Yep, it's fennel. That dill-lookin top and huge, spread-out, bulb bottom. And, ew, the anise. Bleh. All over the Bistro all the time when I worked there. Do a lil google image search for other examples.

Katharine Weber said...

It's fennel, and you cn slice the bulb end into paper thin slices that are wonderful in a carpaccio salad with thin leaves of parmesan, and a really good olive pil drizzle. I do think it is better raw than any possible cooking preparation.

There's a lot of waste, though, because the stalks and feathers are not especially nice. So yuo don't actually have a lot of fennel to work with.

Rooie said...

Well, dang. I figured people would beat me to it.

I'm afraid I'm among the anise haters, so for me it would be "Fennel! Bleh. Into the trash."

Kitt said...

Yes, fennel! Lucky you. It's pricey from the store. You can make a delicious potato fennel gratin with it, fennel white bean soup or fennel apple salad. Those are the recipes I've tried, anyway.

Mar's kids said...

Oooh, fennel! Cut it into 1-inch chunks, start a slow saute in some olive oil with garlic cloves, then add sweet italian sausage to the pan. When things are looking too delicious for words, add some smashed giant green olives and red pepper flakes if you like them. Carmelized heaven. We'll all be over shortly :)

seppaku said...

I'm afraid I'm among the anise haters, so for me it would be "Fennel! Bleh. Into the trash."

Me too! But I'd ask the dog if he wanted to have a go at it first. ;)

Cara dB said...

My most controversial post ever! Yay!

actually I don't like anise either, but I also can't stand waste, so I'll probably throw it into a salad and we can pick out the fennel slices if we want.

Anonymous said...

Sorry I am late to the fray, but I have to say that I am a cooked fennel fan. I like it ok raw too, but I usually roast it under tinfoil, drizzled with olive oil, sometimes with other vegetables. The saute + sausage sounds great too.