Roasted Fennel Agrodolce

This Roasted Fennel makes a great side dish because it’s incredibly easy to make, and so delicious. Raw fennel is sharp and tastes like aniseed, but it transforms when roasted, losing all of its anise flavour and crunchy texture to become buttery and caramelized.
Agrodolce is an Italian sweet and sour sauce with a sticky consistency. Its name is Italian for “sour” (agro) and “sweet” (dolce). A classic agrodolce recipe contains reduced honey (or sugar), vinegar, pine nuts, red onion/shallot and a mixture of dried fruits, such as raisins, cranberries or dried apricots. The sauce is fantastic with Brussel's sprouts, cauliflowers or broccoli too.

	Agrodolce Italian Sweet and Sour Sauce
3 Fennel bulbs, about 1 kg, halved Olive oil Sea salt and freshly milled black pepper 100 g Full fat Greek yoghurt 100 g Feta, crumbled 1 tbsp Parsley, finely chopped	1 tbsp Olive oil 1 Shallot, peeled and minced 1 clove Garlic, peeled and minced 2-3 Red chillie peppers, deseeded and thinly sliced 2 tbsp Dried cranberries 2 tbsp Pine nuts 125 ml Red wine vinegar 4 tbsp Honey

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Halve the fennel bulbs. Remove the fronds and reserve for the garnish. Drizzle the fennel halves with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Heat a large frying pan over medium heat, then sear the fennel, cut-side down, until browned, 3 minutes. Transfer to a roasting tin and roast for 40-45 minutes, or until tender and caramelised.
Meanwhile, blend Greek yoghurt and Feta until well combined. Add in chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper. Mix until well-combined. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Take the fennel out of the oven and leave to cool while you make the spicy agrodolce. Heat a skillet with olive oil. Add in shallot, stirring briefly, then add in garlic and sauté until they become slightly golden brown, about 3 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until syrupy, 5 minutes.
To serve, spread the yoghurt mix onto a large plate. Top with the fennel bulbs and spoon the agrodolce over. Garnish with the reserved fennel fronds. Enjoy!

5 comments:

Margaret D 20/11/24 12:18: They look attractive, Angie.
Tom 20/11/24 12:59: ....this is new to me!
DEZMOND 20/11/24 13:23: Agrodolce sounds like a lovely word to pronounce, even though I cannot stand Italian for some reason LOL
Diane 20/11/24 14:06: Oh wow, I love fennel and this will certainly be on the menu very soon. Thanks so much for this recipe. I hope all is well, Diane
Lola Martínez 20/11/24 14:29: El hinojo no lo utilizo nada, pero cada día veo recetas deliciosas como esta que me hacen plantearme preparar alguna. Me gustaría probarlo.