Fennel and Agretti

A salad with tomatoes

As the schools are nearly finished for the year, summer invariably cools and a few days of rain creep in. This doesn’t mean Al Fresco dining has to end, just adapt. Fennel takes on a whole new flavour when cooked, a deep nutty sweetness develops that is simply delicious. 

Agretti (or Monks Beard) has a vegetal lightness that goes perfectly with fennel. While it doesn’t necessarily need to be cooked, a light touch with the heat softens the fibred making it a little more pleasant. Ideal for mixing through a warm dressing right at the end of cooking. 

Both the fennel and Agretti are brought together with a light cherry tomato dressing made using the left over pan juices and fresh fennel fronds.

Serves 2
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
1 SLF fennel
Rapeseed oil
Sea salt flakes
Fresh ground black pepper
A couple of handfuls of cherry tomatoes
½ fresh garlic or 2 cloves of dried
60g apple cider vinegar
A generous dessert spoon of honey
½ bag of SLF Agretti

1. Begin by preparing the vegetables. Strip the fronds from the fennel, discarding any yellow or damaged sections, and trim the stalks. Remove the bottom third of the stalks as they are often tough (look for white rings in the stem centre and discard these sections), then slice. Cut the bulbs into quarters along their length. Strip the Agretti from their tough stalks and cut the cherry tomatoes in half.
2. Heat a large frying pan over a moderate heat with a generous puddle of rapeseed oil. Once the oil is shimmering, add the fennel, season with pepper, and fry without moving until a good char is achieved.
3. Add the sliced stem from the fennel and fry for a few moments, then season with a few three finger pinches of salt. 
4. Keeping the fennel on the first side fried, turn up the heat to maximum. Once sizzling add the cherry tomatoes, vinegar and honey, working quickly to mix everything together.
5. Once amalgamated, add the Agretti and fennel fronds then take off the heat and serve.

Serve with a BBQ, lots of bread and your favourite sharp hard cheese.

Chef Notes:

1. Leaving the fennel to char on only one side leaves the top crunchy and fresh which is a delicious contrast to the nutty fried side. 
2. The tomato juice, vinegar and honey emulsify with the oil used in frying to make an emulsion or dressing. 

Robin Popham
Chef at ‘Create Terroir’ and Sandy Lane Farm veg box customer