Fennel grows well through the winter and has an affinity with the sweetness of apples. I’m not a big sage fan but this was a subtle combination that would work well with pork or ham. Serves 2 as a side dish.
A knob of butter
One small bulb of fennel, trimmed of leaves and stem and finely shredded
One apple, cored and sliced
One tablespoon of verjuice or orange juice
One teaspoon brown sugar
One sprig of sage
Saute the fennel gently in the butter until soft and starting to brown. Add the apple, verjuice, sugar and sage. Cover and cook gently for a few more minutes until the apple has softened. Serve warm (don’t eat the sage).
This sounds a great dish – I love fennel and have some in the garden.
Only trouble is, they haven’t grown very big this year.
We tried several seed sowing sessions before we got them to germinate earlier in the year and now they have, the bulbs are not very big.
Anyone else had this trouble?
Valerie
Hi Valerie, It could be the cold weather, depending where you are. When it warms up you may find they’ll put on a growth spurt. They may also decide to go to seed, so pick them if they show signs of that. Rachel