The Lad had been wanting to cook something with fennel bulbs for ages & when I came across this recipe on Bon Appetit Magazine’s website, we were both keen to give it a whirl.
Our tagine is tucked away in the designated kitchen appliance corner of the storage room until we move to our new still-being-built unit. (Which hopefully won’t be too much longer if the sunshine can keep on keeping on! It’s lookin’ good!) So it kind of isn’t a Chicken, Fennel & Olive Tagine, more just a Chicken, Fennel & Olive Stew, but it was downright delicious regardless.
I hadn’t cooked with fresh fennel before, only the dried herby stuff, and it was far more subtle in flavour than I expected.
The only alterations we made to the recipe as it is here, were to use dried chilli flakes rather than cayenne pepper (again due to the cayenne being boxed away for a near-future kitchen) and a little less chicken (4 thighs rather than 6).
We also went a little over on the olives… We love our olives! (Especially the marinated olives at East End Enoteca where we had the most amazing meal I’ve ever had in the Hunter. A must go!)
This post’s gratuitous photo of the greens
Dished up with brown rice and an extra coriander sprinkle, this was a quick cooking, delicious way of trying out fennel cooking for the first time. I think this recipe will definitely be making some reappearances in both our temporary and near-future kitchens.
