As you all know by now I do like a nice piece of fish and these lush fillets of haddock looked so inviting at the butcher/fishmonger’s it was a no brainer. As I had also bought a couple of bulbs of fennel from the greengrocers I thought the two might just complement each other to make a light but tasty dinner that evening. Since I have only recently discovered fennel as a vegetable; I’ve only ever used it as a seasoning before; I had to look up the best ways to cook it. I came across a really easy recipe for fish with fennel which I adapted to my way of thinking. In the original recipe once the vegetables have been softened the fish is added along with black olives and the whole lot is baked in the oven. Although that may give the dish a rounder taste I decided to steam the fish instead, much less faffing about in my opinion and since Paul is not over keen on black olives; plus I didn’t have any anyway; I omitted them. The resulting dinner was light with a gentle tang of aniseed, although not as much as I was expecting. Maybe next time I might add a few fennel seeds just to give it more of a lift. An added bonus was the wine. Any recipe that needs me to open a bottle of wine for a splash in the pan makes for a good excuse to finish it with the meal.
Ingredients
- 2 good sized haddock fillets
- 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and cut into wedges
- 1 small onion, sliced
- 1 tsp lazy garlic
- Handful of black olives, optional
- 1 glass white wine
- 50g butter
- Juice of ½ lemon
- Tbs olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method
- Heat a large deep frying pan and add the olive oil.
- Add the fennel and sautè until it is turning golden.
- Add the onion, garlic and wine.
- Bring to a boil then reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the fennel is tender. Add water if required.
- When the fennel is cooked lay the haddock fillets on top of the vegetables, cover and cook for 10-12 minutes or until the fish is cooked through.
- Remove the fish and vegetables and set aside.
- Add the butter and lemon juice to the remaining liquid and boil, mixing well, until the sauce has thickened.
- Pour the sauce over the fish and serve with new potatoes and seasonal vegetables.
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