Fennel with White Beans and Tomato

This started out as a fish main dish, but after tasting it, we decided to just have it as a vegetable dish. Side or main? Who knows.

This started out as a fish main dish, but after tasting it, we decided to just have it as a vegetable dish. Side or main? Who knows.

Make 4 servings
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olive oil

fennel bulb

1 medium onion

½ cup white wine

4 roma tomatoes (or other varieties)

3-4 cloves of garlic

chili flakes

saffron threads

pastis (Pernod, Ricard, etc.)

1 cup of stock (fish, chicken, vegetable) or bean-cooking liquid

1½ cups cooked white beans

Cut into wedges

  • 1 fennel bulb

In a large frying pan, heat

  • 2 glugs olive oil

Fry fennel until golden. Lower heat and add

  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • ¾ tsp salt

and cook until tender. Add more oil if needed and add

  • 3-4 cloves garlic, minced or sliced

Cook briefly, add

  • ½ cup white wine

Bring briefly to boil and add

  • 4 Roma or an equivalent volume of other tomatoes, cored and diced
  • chili flakes, to tast
  • pinch saffron threads
  • splash of pastis
  • 1 cup fish, chicken or vegetable stock (see note, below)
  • 1½ cups beans

Let simmer together until tomatoes are cooked down. (In the original recipe, you’d add fish at this point and just cook until the fish is cooked through.) Taste for salt and pepper.

Note: You can use the bean cooking liquid instead of the stock if you prefer.

Adapted from a recipe in The Zuni Cafe Cookbook by Judy Rodgers.