Three Dishes with Organic Fennel

I love fennel and as there was always plenty during my childhood in Germany, I never gave it much thought. One day, after I had moved to Turkey and forgot about some root vegetables such as fennel or rhubarb, my mom came with a bunch of fennel from the farmers market from the little village she lives in. As I soaked up the fragrant smell of the fennel and tasted her simple fennel stir fry with nothing but onions, salt, pepper and eggs, I suddenly remembered, I love the taste of fennel. So I began my search in Istanbul and thought, well if my mother finds it in her small village I should have no problem to do so, but I was utterly wrong. I have been looking for fresh fennel since last autumn. Finally, a few weeks ago when I was wondering around at the organic farmers market, which is set up every week right at my door, I suddenly saw the tremendous beauty looking at me. Green grassy leaves and round voluptuous, mint colored fennel heads. On this first week of my discovery I was still a bit hesitant and bought one head only that just made it into an ordinary green salad at our dinner table. But last weak I ran to the same farmer straight ahead and bought two big leaves that I turned into three different dishes from breakfast to dinner and even to lunch the next day.

FENNEL OMLET WITH FETA CHEESE

1 small fennel head diced
fennel leaves finely chopped
4 eggs
salt and pepper
4 tbsp milk
olive oil for the pan
¼ cup organic feta cheese

1. put the diced fennel into the pan with some olive oil and cook until translucent. Add a little salt while the fennel is cooking in the pan (but not too much since you are going to season the eggs as well)
2. meanwhile beat the eggs with the milk, season with salt and pepper, add the fennel leaves and the feta cheese
3. pour the egg mixture into the pan, cover and cook at medium heat. I like the eggs to be firm but you can also leave them a bit soggy, if that is what you prefer

RAW FENNEL SALAD WITH CELERY AND APPLES

I was searching through my cook books to find out what I could do with my fennel and in the back of my mind somehow I knew that there must be some nice way Germans would use fennel. And of course they do. I adapted this recipe from my all time favorite Ich Helfe Dir Kochen and served with it grilled fish.

salad

1 fennel head diced
fennel leaves finely chopper
1 celery head
2 small green apples

dressing

2 tbsp lemon juice
¼ tsp salt
pepper
1 tsp brown sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
2 heaping tbsp yoghurt

1. dice the fennel, and chop the fennel leaves.
2. shred the celery and apples and mix all the vegetables in a bowl
3. mix the lemon juice and the sugar until sugar has dissolved
4. add the remaining ingredients for the dressing and pour over vegetables (I didn’t have any at hand but shredded carrots and walnuts would work perfectly well in this salad).


MASHED SQUASH & POTATOES WITH FENNEL LEAVES

I had a huge bunch of fennel leaves left and though about combining it with some other autumn flavors. Actually I was in the mood for something mashed something that would taste and smell of autumn and had a creamy but still chunky texture. Well this is what I came up with inspired by Jamie Oliver’s mashed carrots.

400g squash
1 medium sized zucchini
3 medium sized potatoes
2tsp fresh shredded ginger
6 cloves of garlic
¼ tsp cumin
1bunch fennel leaves
4 tbsp milk

1. chop the vegetables, put them in a cooking dish with the garlic cloves and ginger
2. add water and salt, cook until veggies are tender (the water doesn’t have to cover the vegetables. As the veggies are chopped they will be through pretty fast).
3. get rid of the excess water and put the veggies back on the stove.
4. stir in the milk, mash the veggies with a potato masher or the back of a large flat spoon.
5. stir in the fennel leaves and cook for another minute

Summer Squash or Zucchini Burgers

I have been meaning to post this Iast summer, but it just wasn’t the right time I guess since somehow I didn’t make it. I t has been over a year since I posted on my blog and for some time I had even given up on it. I felt as if everyone was expecting me to bake/cook the entire time and post one recipe after the other. I would have loved to do that but it has been a very busy year with a lot of work, new passions to be followed after, a new home etc...
Well, I was planning the revival of my blog for quite some time with super recipes for Madeleine, chocolate pistachio tarts and so on. But during the last year I realized that to be able to do the things you love, like or are passionate about alongside those things you have to do, you gotta learn how to manage your time. Of course, I did not give up cooking, baking and trying new recipes from my ever expanding library of cookbooks. But my everyday choices and recipes have become more simple, easier and faster. So I am returning with a super easy and fast recipe that is soo yummy, I could eat this everyday. I adapted this from a Turkish dish called “müjver” which is a deep fried version of this summer squash burger. Of course, I did not fry it in liters of vegetable oil. I made two versions – one in a non stick pan with olive oil and one in the oven. I made a little video in my somewhat ugly tiny kitchen, where I have been baking and cooking for three years before we moved into our new apartment that seems to consist of one big kitchen. The rest of the flat is just clustered around this kitchen space and of course this is why I fell in love with it....

3 middle size zucchini
1 big bunch of cilantro and dill or any other fresh herb mix you like
1 egg
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tsp curry powder
½ tsp cumin
1 pinch of salt
Around three handfuls of sunflower seeds and/or pinenuts (toast the sunflower seeds in a non stick pan before you add them into the mixture
1 handful off feta cheese (optional)

1 cup of yoghurt
1 clove of garlic

fresh mint (optional)

1. Shred the zucchini and squeeze out some of the liquid. Zucchini has loads of water.
2. Coarsely chop the dill & cilantro.
3. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.
4a. Heat some olive oil in a non stick pan and spoon as many piles of the mixture in it as fit into your pan.
4b. Put the mixture into a oil greased oven dish and bake at 180/200° for 30/35 minutes.
5. Mince the garlic into the yoghurt and serve with the burgers.

*Music from Chocolate soundtrack