Root to Top Cooking : Fennel Fronds

Ushering in the first weeks of the summer, my vegetable CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) starts mid-June.  The first pick up of the season marks a little celebration in my heart over the respite from hitting the market for veggies.  Between my CSA share and my backyard garden, the next several months will be flush with fresh vegetables.  So many, in fact, that I will also spend many summer days trying out new preservation techniques.

Of course, like my garden right now, these early pick ups contain many types of greens – lettuce, collards, kale, asian greens and scallions.  There are also beets, khorabi, radishes and fennel.  I don’t know how the farm does it, but the fennel is enormous with one bulb, minus the stalks and fronds, weighing in at 1 pound.  I feel compelled to tell you, this farm employs organic practices with minimal chemical inputs, so these are not chemically enhanced fennel plants.

One thing I noticed was many people were tearing off the fennel stalks and fronds and leaving them in the provided compost bucket.   While part of me says ‘Yay’ to composing, the other part of me cringes to see so much edible part of the plant go to waste even if it is the compost pile.  Yes, those tops are edible.! As are the tops of carrots, beets, radishes, turnips and kohlrabi.

There are many uses of fennel fronds.  I put them in salad. Use them as any other herb for dishes. They are delicious stuffed into a whole fish that is baked, poached or grilled. However, with the size of the fennel I was receiving, it was time to find ways to use lots of fronds all at once rather than just as a sprinkle here and there.  So, I looked into other uses of fennel fronds.  Fennel pesto seemed like an ideal way to use the abundance of fronds and even preserve some in the freezer for later in the year when I will  be wanting more fennel.

This recipe is kind of inspired by the many  ideas I saw on the web and can easily be adjusted according to what’s on hand.  For example, if you don’t have cashews or want a bit more nuttiness, use walnuts instead.  I also considered blending this with chickpeas instead of nuts for a fennel hummus.   For last week’s fennel, here’s what I did.  Maybe this week will try something new!

Fennel Frond Pesto:

Ingredients:
Stalks and fronds from 1 fennel bulb
1 cup cashew pieces
2-3 garlic scapes (adjust according to preference)
1/2 cup pitted olives (optional)
1-1/2t kosher salt
1t ground pepper
1t smoked paprika
1/4 cup olive oil (if not using olives, increase to 1/3 cup)
1/4 cup white wine vinegar (not distilled vinegar)

Instructions:

Step 1: Strip the fronds from the stalks and separate. Roughly chop the stalks to fit in the food processor. Note: Stalks may be saved for candied fennel stalks or used in this recipe.

Step 2: In a food processor, pulse the cashews, fennel stalks and garlic scapes until coarsely chopped.

Step 3: Add the fennel fronds, salt, pepper, paprika and olives to the bowl.

Step 4: With the food processor running, drizzle the olive oil and vinegar through the feed tube.

For a chunkier pesto, reserve an 1/8 of a cup of cashews and add during step 4.  For this recipe, I had about 3 cups of loosely packed fronds and a cup or coarsely chopped stalks.  Adjust the amount of olive according to the amount of fennel frond and stalks available.