It's fall and the local fennel is hitting the market shelves. Inspired by a recipe I saw in La Cucina Italiana I slowly roasted my fennel in butter. The slow roasting transformed the sharp licorice taste into a mellow flavor that blended with the nutty burnt butter. To finish I tossed a variety fresh herbs from my patio with the remaining butter, drizzled that over the fennel and then sprinkled with grated fresh romano cheese.
This super easy dish accompanied a salad and grilled bison tenderloin for dinner a few weeks ago. I had a giant bag of shrimp in the fridge that I couldn't put off using and 1/2 a jar of Classico Sundried Tomato Pesto that I also needed to use up.
Browsing the epicurious website I found this recipe and adapted it to the ingredients I had on hand. I used the wine, butter and basil from the recipe and added a few big spoonfuls of the pesto. It turned out to be a big hit and I would certainly make it again. Next time though I will make a lot more sauce and serve it with fresh French bread for dipping. Serve with napkins!
How do you transform a less than perfect tomato into a sweetly caramelized and flavorful food. You roast it ! That's how.
Normally I try to buy produce from the farmer's market, but I was in a hurry the other day and instead I picked up some tomatoes from the grocery store. They were rather sickly looking barely resembling a shade of red, but I grabbed them anyway. I have to have tomatoes in the house after all.
Since I could see these weren't going to be great fresh I had to figure some other fate for them. I'd read in several places that roasting intensifies and deepens flavor, and I figured this sad lot could definitely benefit from such a treatment. Plus, it's easy to do. Slice, sprinkle with a hearty dose of olive oil and bake.
The roasting heat and baking time can vary depending on the results that you want. I baked these at 325 F for about 1 1/2 hours. They were pleasantly carmelized and sweet, but not dried out, like a sundried tomato. This type would be perfect in a roasted tomato salsa, layered in a sandwich, or added to a soup.
Recent Comments