Linguine with Wild Fennel Weed

This is one seriously Sicilian dish. Wild fennel weed that must be picked wild, preferably off a mountain like the volcano Etna.....then a quick run by the fish market to get some little fish. Almost any kind will do. The most used would be a blue fish. You could use mackerel, or fresh sardines too. Best bet is go to a Chinese market and find some fresh or frozen tiny fish. They love fish as much as Sicilians do. 

These two ingredients make for the perfect summer pasta dish. Light and nutrient rich, with a nice crunch to boot.

1 lb linguine

A fist full of dill weed with stalks

An onion

2 salted anchovy fillets finely chopped

1/2 c pine nuts

1/2 c raisins

4 peeled tomatoes or 1 c diced tomatoes

1 1/2 c breadcrumbs

1 lb little fishes

Fill a pasta pot with water and salt as for boiling pasta. Take your fennel weed and put it right in there. Let it boil 20 min. I think we could substitute fresh dill weed. Has to be fresh and not dried. Put a whole bunch in. Let it blanch and then pick it out and let drain. Keep that dilly water for the pasta. 

Chop the dill up nicely and add to a skillet with one grated onion and 2 tbsp or so of olive oil. Sauté all that for a bit. Throw in some everything else including  pine nuts and / or raisins if you have them and sauté together. Add a bit of dilly water to make saucy. Squish the tomatoes and they'll disappear. Sauce shouldn't be red. 

Your little fishes should be cleaned and have no scales but still probably have bones. It's up to you to decide whether to filet or not. However you decide, toss in the fish and sauté away. When the fish is done, set it aside. They might fall apart and it's ok. Salt to taste. 

In another skillet toast some plain breadcrumbs. Put a bit of olive oil in with a crushed garlic clove and sauté. Add the breadcrumbs a with a little Parmesan. 

Like 1/3 cup per person. Make them nice and golden. Just set the skillet on medium high and stir every so often. Put them in a bowl for the table. 

Now boil your pasta in the dilly salted water, and strain, saving some pasta water for the table.  Toss in with the fish sauce and add pasta water as needed to make it come together. 

Serve each plate with a nice sprinkling of breadcrumbs and some Parmesan if desired.  It's crunchy and fresh and healthful. Dill weed is well known for its healthful properties and so are tiny fish :)

**In our family we actually fry the little fish fillets separately and put on top of the pasta. It's a little drier to eat but we like it. Just dredge the fillets in breadcrumbs and fry in a little olive oil. Salt to taste. 

Orange Salad-Insalata d'Arancia

Sicily is the home of citrus in Europe. Look in the side door of restaurants around the continent and you'll see Sicilian names on the fruit cartons like Paternò (CT), our Sicilian family's home town.

Flying into the Catania airport you see the presently very active volcano Etna, and miles of orange and lemon trees. The volcano erupted a few centuries back covering most of the southeastern side of Sicily, leaving 10 feet or more of lava and ash to enrich the soil of the future, the result being more oranges than you've ever seen in all of Florida.

In winter and early spring the oranges are in full swing, and so economical it is a shame not find some wonderful use to consume large quantities of them. Orange salad is one way.

We eat orange salad either plain with onion, or combined with sliced fresh fennel, or in this case with fennel and avocado (only in America though!). There are 'food rules' you must abide by. Orange salad is always dressed with olive oil and salt, but the acid changes depending on what else you're putting in. The main rule is, if you add fennel it must be lemon juice. Period.

Original orange salad:

10 naval oranges
1/2 bunch green onion, chopped
Or 1/4 cup thinly sliced red or white onion
Salt
Olive oil
Apple cider vinegar.

Cut the ends off the oranges and then slice the skin off in strips, removing the white parts. Cut peeled orange in half, then each half in thirds and thirds again, making 9 bite sized pieces of each half. If you get the hang of this method you'll come to love it for cutting all kinds of fruit, like cantaloupe and watermelon.

Place oranges in glass bowl. Add chopped onion, mix, and dress with oil and vinegar and salt. Mix well and taste. It should be sweet and tangy with a taste of salt. Serve immediately or set aside for 30 min to blend flavors. Enough for 4-5.

Orange Fennel Avocado Salad

1/2 of a large fennel bulb
3 oranges, peeled and chopped as above
1 large avocado, seeded and cut in cubes.

Cut the fennel in half again, and slice thinly. Place in bowl with the orange bites, and dress with olive oil, lemon juice and salt. Add the avocado at the end and toss immediately to coat with lemon. Taste and adjust dressing. A little extra salt is in order because of the avocado. Yum. Serves 4.

Don't skimp on the olive oil just because it seems odd to put it on fruit. You should see a little shine on the fruit from it after its mixed. Use good oil too. Nice and green. Lastly don't skimp on the salt, and use good salt. I like Real Salt, a little lighter flavor and full of minerals.

Enjoy!

Finocchio Gratin ~ Baked Fennel

Chicken Alfredo Lasagna
w/Besciamella

White sauce
Béchamel
Besciamella
Gravy.
It makes everything wonderful.
I do like just about anything with a sauce. Sauces are the reason people like French food. Of course, it's because the king of France decided to marry Catherine de Medici from Italy, who brought all her own chefs with her as the food in France consisted of, well, basically, primitive English food. It was the beginning of the rise of France to the cooking hall of fame.

Back to sauce. So many American cooks tremble at the idea of making a holland side or béchamel, choosing to buy little envelopes of instant mix, and in the end consuming who knows what. Rather just learn the basics of sauce making and enjoy the fruits of your labors any old night of the week while getting to eat really wholesome ingredients.

As you're going through the produce section of the grocery store, look for those flat looking onion bulbs with tall green feathery tops---fennel. Some stores label it anise. It's the same thing. If they're reasonable, pick up 3-4 for a wonderful side dish your family will love.

You'll need
3-4 fennel bulbs
2 cups milk
4-5 tbsp butter
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup Parmesan
Nutmeg, salt

Melt Butter in Saucier

Prep the fennel either the day before or whenever. Cut off the green parts and put in the compost. Truly I've tried to find a use for this bit of veg and I haven't, nor have the myriad of frugal Sicilian mothers I questioned. Oh well.

Whisk in Flour

Now slice off the root end but just barely. You don't want it to fall apart. Wash the outside (it'll be a little bruised but just leave it).  The discoloration will be covered nicely with our besciamella...see? Besciamella DOES make everything better!  Cut your fennel bulbs as you would quarter an onion.  You want some whole wedges if possible.  If it falls apart, no worries.  Your stomach won't care.

Put these in a pan of boiling water with a little salt, and cook them until fork tender.  Drain and set aside.  You can do this a day or two ahead, or right before you start.  Now for the good stuff.

When you're ready, preheat the oven to 375F and get out a glass 9" square dish.  You can use a pie plate if you like, but I like the deeper square better.

Cook Flour 3-4 Min

In a saucepan, preferably a saucier with rounded bottom instead of corners (makes whisking easier), melt the butter on medium heat.  Dump in all the flour at once, and whisk to absorb the butter.  If it's just not absorbing, add another pat of butter.  It'll be dry-ish but the flour should all be absorbed.  Let it cook, whisking occasionally, for 3-4 minutes so that icky flour taste goes away.
All Clad Stainless Steel 1 Qt Saucier Pan - 8701004436 (Google Affiliate Ad)

Whisk in 1/2 Milk

Pour in 1 cup of the milk, and whisk thoroughly, scraping back and forth on the bottom to remove all flour.  Once the lumps are gone, add the rest of the milk and keep whisking.  You'll need to whisk every 30 seconds or so to keep the bottom of the pan clean and not form any lumps.  How do you know when it's done? Easy.  The FIRST time it bubbles, it's done.  And it will.  It'll make a big round bubble of air and go BLOP.  You're done.  Take it off the heat, season with a tsp of salt, a tsp of fresh ground nutmeg, and of course taste it!  It should be yummy.  If it's not, salt or nutmeg to taste. Lastly, blend in the parmesan.

Finished Besciamella

Put a large spoonful of sauce in the bottom of the glass pan, smearing it around.  Set the fennel wedges lined up in the pan now, or dump it in if your wedges fell apart.  Just be sure they're well drained. It should be a nice single layer of fennel.  Pour the rest of the sauce over the top, sprinkle with Parmesan, and bake for 30 min or until the besciamella is nice and golden.
You could do this with bulb onions, potatoes, brussel sprouts, just about anything.  Hope you enjoy this dish. Our family does.  By the way, doesn't this remind you a little of green bean casserole?  Mushroom besciamella is...guess what...cream of mushroom soup in disguise!  Talk about a yummy, healthy alternative!  More on that another day....