Any ideas, anyone? My boyfriend bought some at the market because it "looked interesting" but we don't know what to do with it!

It's fennel ~ you can eat it raw, but the Italians have a dish "Finocchi al latte" or fennel braised in milk, which I think is really nice.

Blanch it for 3 mins, chop it up (one inch chunks) and into a pan add a little cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper and 150ml full fat milk. Cook it gently for 15-20 mins until tender. Turn it over once or twice & add more milk if it begins to dry. At the end there should be no liquid left. Pour over a couple of generous dollops of double cream, stir and give it a further couple of minutes before serving.

Anyway I thought you didn't cook?

I don't cook, Brewer, and even manage to burn no-brainer stuff like rice and hard-boiled eggs, but I'll be sure to forward your recipe to the interested party.

Does your bf do all the cooking then?

My very egalatarian Flemish boyfriend does all of the cooking and the food shopping, plus yard work, and he often does the dishes and the laundry. What an improvement over my former French boyfriends who never helped out at home! I still get stuck with cleaning the house, though.

No offence Dumblo, but you sound like a typical J.A.P. Having said that, you're no different from my last two girlfriends who were catholic, Flemish, and (in my eyes) princesses.

That's because I am a JAP, Oblomov, although not a typical one. I suppose you won't be surprised that my boyfriend refers to me as "de prinses". Then again, I call him "de baas", so I guess that means he's really in charge.

Glad you didn't take offence at that DB, cause none was meant. Funnily enough, my exgirlfriend also called me something like 'the baas', except the word was a bit longer!

Venkel (fenouil en français) is deliciously just plainly steamed till soft. Raw it's a great summer salad, and it always goes very well with fish.

The Italians name, "finocchio" (sp.?) also means "homosexual". I wonder why?

Get some fennel seeds and roll a pork roast joint in them, fry briefly to brown and seal. Chop up a fennel plant into slices and put with meat into a baking casserole. Add garlic, white wine a chopped onion a couple of bay leaves and a handful of fresh rosemary.
Season, cover casserole with dampened greaseproof paper and bake as you would normally do pork.

Afterwards, use the juices for a sauce - (reduce on cooker and add butter to thicken).

(BTW, judging from previous postings DB, I gather that you do eat pork - am I right?)

Add butter to thicken? :S You don't mean flour?

No, don't ever use flour to thicken a good sauce!

If you reduce enough and concentrate the flavours, then add the butter, it will thicken (sure, not like flour, "stodgy") to a fine consistency. This should just barely coat the back of a spoon. It should be light, but rich and complex in flavour. You should not need very much.

To thicken a heavier sauce, stir in liquid cream and reduce to desired consistency, although I have never tried it with the Pork & Fennel recipe.

Can't find my recipe on the net, but here is a similar one; <a href="http://www.foodtv.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_13726,00.html" Target="_BLANK">http://www.foodtv.com/food/recipes/recipe/...,00.html</a>

What I don't get is that they say use "kosher" salt... with a PORK recipe???

Thanks, Marcel, I think my boyfriend will like this recipe. After all, he's from West Flanders, where there are more pigs than people. (And you're right, I do eat pork; for me personally, my Jewishness is a cultural identity and not a religion.)

Thanks for the tip, Marcel! I didn't know that about sauces <img src="../images/emoticons/ybigrin.gif"> I'll give it a go next time I'm making something.

Question : What is kosher salt ?? They use it in all the recipes here !

The mineral salt has a cubic crystal shape, whereas kosher salt is composed of many cubes stuck together. Given its large surface area, it can absorb more moisture than a similar sized cubic salt crystal. This makes it ideal for curing meats, which involves absorbing blood from the raw meat. Among other things, it is not kosher to eat meat with any trace of blood left in it.

Marcel: well...we have cranberries in the house, but no XXXX and I suspect that wallaby that was bouncing around in the Belgian bush is probably no longer fair game <img src="../images/emoticons/ytongue.gif">

You're probably right, Cammers, I think it's in Ketchup's freezer by now!

Even the one near Wavre is now called Six Flags. But isn't it typical that it's easier to find Wallaby here than XXXX?
(BTW 4X was my preferred beer when in I lived in the Pacific + the occasional Black Swan, when I could get some )

The only reason it is called XXXX is because the Aussies can't spell BEER!

No it isn't, it's because you're not allowed to use bad language on beer cans <img src="../images/emoticons/ytongue.gif">