Iron Chef: Fennel

bought this fennel last week and have been meaning to do something interesting with it. i once had this grilled tuna skewer with a lemon and rosmary olive oil dressing that was delicious. thought perhaps i could make something that had the same sweet freshness that is so unique to fennel... pondered over this in the afternoon while getting an oil change at EZ lube and fending off the mechanics trying to tell me i needed a $545 job on my car, but he will give me a $60 discount, so it will only be $485. yeah, right. anyway, got home and started researching/reading. didn't have all of the ingredients for any of the recipes i found, so decided ot modify and fuse and mutate them into something that i had (this is usually how it is, isn't it?) so as the dish slowly started to take shape in my mind, chopping tomatoes for the salsa, i turned on the tv to my favorite channel: food network. iron chef was on, and it was: iron chef FENNEL! amazing, now i was inspired. although didn't end up making anything that was on the show (duh...) it felt like i was part of the action!

Fennel and Scallops Spagetti

sauce:
1 tbs butter
some garden fresh herbs (thyme, oregano)
1 fennel bulb chopped
1 onion chopped
1 red bell pepper chopped
1/4 cups cream
4 cloves garlic chopped
1lb sea scallops
tumeric, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper to taste

thin spagetti
chopped scallions

cook fennel/onion/herbs/butter till they are translucent. add salt/pepper/garlic. add cream. add seasoning. add red pepper and scallops. cook until scallops are half-done. turn off heat. wait for pasta to be ready.

cook pasta in salted boiling water till al dente. dump in sauce. recook everything together for 3 minutes. add chopped scallions. serve.

thoughts:
bass really liked it. said it made him realize that pasta could be really delicious. i was hoping for a stronger fennel flavor. next time will cook the fennel less so they stay a little crisper/fresher, and perhaps cut them into bigger chuncks. also can add fennel leaves at the end before serving.



Fennel Salsa

Basic salsa:
tomatoes
red bell pepper
corn/avocado
green onion
onion
cilantro
lime/lemon juice
salt/pepper

chopped fennel

thoughts:
the citrus flavor would go well on top of a grilled white fish of some sort. maybe halibut or cod. perhaps even tuna? but not so much salmon...
mango would also be a nice touch in the salsa, to cut the tanginess of lime juice.

NEXT:
fennel tsanziki