A Fun Night With Fennel

Roasted Fennel over Linguine

When my boyfriend visited me from NYC for his spring break, our top priority was to make sure we squeezed in as much good food as possible. As with many couples, we have our fair share of brunching, lunching, and dining out. Food is always more fun with company and plus, our brief reunion was cause for celebration...with lots of food. However, as convenient as it is to just say, hey let's grab some grub at this restaurant, one thing we both love and miss out on by being in a long distance is not being able to cook together.

The first time I heard about Blue Apron was through my boyfriend. He told me his apartment mate would always order Blue Apron meals and cook them with his girlfriend at night. I did some research on their website and needless to say, I was jealous! Exotic meals with ingredients shopped for, portioned out, and delivered to your door? No leftover ingredients left to rot in my kitchen? Sign me up!

So with Blue Apron as one of our primary weeknight activity plans, I ordered 3 meals for 2 to be delivered in a week. Now, my boyfriend is picky about seafood. He prefers to have them fried. Since Blue Apron's meals are all between 500-700cal and they expect you to have the bare minimum of kitchen equipment (pot, pan, baking sheet), it was was not surprising that the one seafood meal they had was baked--not fried--salmon. So naturally we opted out of that one and as a result, got "assigned" to the chef's favorite vegetarian meal of the week: Roasted Fennel over Linguine.

Roasted fennel? Like fennel seeds? No, like a real, feathery frondy bulb of fennel.

It looked like a fancier version of an onion to me and definitely sliced like one, but it smelled strongly instead of star anise, which is frequently used in Asian stews and not something I'd choose to munch on. Throughout the whole prep and cooking process, my boyfriend and I could not stop giggling over the fact that we were cooking a fennel bulb--something we had never taken notice of in the supermarket nor cared to.

Roasted fennel pieces

Once these babies finished roasting in the oven, my boyfriend held a piece to my nose and I gasped. Gone was the strong anise stench and in its place the nuttiest, most aromatic smell I've encountered in a while. What was this magical herb and how have I never heard of its powers before?

Of course, I need to give the rest of the components their due--the ricotta and meyer lemon cream that came together to wonderfully coat the fresh linguine (yes, fresh! That was definitely a huge treat since I never cook with fresh pasta), the toasted breadcrumbs that added the much needed crunchy texture to the whole dish. But I must say, the fennel was the star, as I'm sure it was meant to be, and I'm forever a fan of it now.

Meyer lemon ricotta cream and toasted breadcrumbs

Oh yeah, and in honor of our funventure, my boyfriend and I have decided that we will name our currently non-existent (but soon to be) puppy Fennel.

Until next time, fennel!