I picked up a couple of fennel this week. They were nice and round and healthy looking. I was planning on making a sausage and fennel frittata, but I changed my mind as usual. I had a head of cauliflower in the fridge that needed to be cooked and a container of heavy cream that was close to expiring, so I decided to make cauliflower and fennel baked in a parmesan cream sauce. One of my goals this year is to make sure we don’t waste food—yep, we do it! I’m embarrassed to say how much food I throw out each week because we didn’t stick to our meal plan or because we bought more food than we need (don’t go grocery shopping on an empty stomach). When food products are close to expiring, I toss them. Yes, I know, I’m super paranoid but the thought of bacteria in my food frightens me. I can’t do it.
I love the sweet, mild licorice or anise flavor of fennel. A fennel bulb looks somewhat like the bulb of a stalk of celery but it’s round and the top is wispy and soft like a collection of fine silk feathers. Fennel cooks up nice and tender like onion, but it’s much sweeter. Once it’s cooked, the mild licorice flavor is barely noticeable. Still, adding fennel to a dish can kick it up a few notches and give it a little pizzaz.
Large pieces of fennel can be a little tough. To keep it tender, I normally use thin slices of fennel in my recipe, but I decided to quarter it in this dish. Thinly sliced fennel cooks up like onion—it becomes soft and tender and transparent the longer it cooks. The cauliflower will take longer to roast than the fennel, so I quartered it to keep it from cooking before the cauliflower was ready. I’m too lazy to roast the fennel and onions separately.
The kids refused to try this dish. The cauliflower scared them and the onions sent them into hysterics. There are no words to describe their reaction to the mild licorice smell of the fennel. Nothing I said could sell it. Not even the cheese.
The rest of us ate our fair share of the dish along with a healthy serving (or two) of roast pork.
Making cauliflower and fennel baked in a parmesan cream sauce is simple. First, wash and clean the veggies. Quarter the onion and fennel. Separate the cauliflower sprigs. Roast the veggies in extra virgin olive oil. Add the roasted veggies, cream and Parmesan cheese to a deep baking dish then bake until the sauce thickens. This is a rich side that goes well with roast pork and baked chicken. Works well over pasta, too.
Cauliflower and Fennel in a Parmesan Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 large onions
- 3 fennel
- 1 cauliflower
- 1/2 cup olive oil extra virgin
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- salt & pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Clean and separate cauliflower sprigs. ash, trim, and quarter fennel. Peel onions and quarter. Put vegetables in large bowl and toss with extra virgin olive oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roast vegetables until cauliflower is al dente and slightly golden, about 15-20 minutes. Fennel and onion will be tender. Remove from oven.
Add vegetables and cheese to medium size baking dish. Add cream, salt, and pepper. Bake until cheese melts and cream thickens, about 15 minutes.
DISCLOSURE : Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and buy the product, I will receive a very small commission of the sales price at no cost to you.
I dont like the taste of licorice but I love the taste of fennel. This dish sounds amazing
Yum!!! Great, now this prego has to cook that NOW!! Haha thanks for sharing the recipe!!
Going to have to try this…. I love me some CAULIFLOWER!!!!!!
Wonderful! Delicious and hearty dish of my favorite vegetables 🙂
Yum, this sounds amazing! Parmesan cheese sauce?? Yes, please!! Can’t wait to try it!
I would have never cook fennel and yet, I am so anxious to now make this recipe! Thank you for your inspiring creativity
It’s good to know that someone else changes their mind about what to eat as often as me! 🙂 This is certainly a dish I wouldn’t have come up with, but it sounds delicious. Happy FF, and have a marvelous weekend! 😀
This sounds amazing. I love cauliflower. I have never tried fennel but this makes me want to try it.
I’ve never used Fennel before, I actually had no idea how to use it. Great recipe.
Yummy yummy and also lovely pictures
i love the name of your blog. Thanks for the very nice baked cauliflower& fennel recipe.I am always looking for novel ways to use fennel! Happy Mother’s Day!
This sounds absolutely delicious! I’m always on the lookout for yummy veggie dishes for family functions because I have a cousin who is a vegetarian.
Seems very easy recipe.
Fennel is a very underutilized vegetable. I love it! And paired with a creamy sauce only elevates it. Thanks for this recipe!
I love cauliflower, I don’t think I’ve ever had fennel but this sounds so delicious. Thanks for sharing.
That looks amazing! I’ve never had anything like this before. I’ll have to make it for my family sometime. Sounds delicious!
Looks so delicious! id love to give it a try.
Now that looks and sounds delicious! A fantastic combination of flavors!
That looks so good.
I love cauliflower. Made soup out of it.
I’ve had something similar to this. Thanks for sharing.
Oh my! Parmesan cream sauce!!
You had me there.
I would love to make this dish!
This looks delicious! I love fennel and I can never think of new ways to cook it.
This looks delicious! I’ve never cooked with fennel before but this would be a great recipe to try it out with. Thanks!
What an absolutely lovely combination!! Looks delish and thanks for sharing on Throwback Thursday!
Mollie
We do not get fennel as a veggie in my city. Only leaves. Your dish looks really interesting.
This looks like heaven, love the combination with fennel and cauliflower, they complement each other so well 🙂
That looks amazing! Thank you for sharing with us at the #HomeMattersParty
Anything with “parmesan cream sauce” sounds divine to me! Thanks so much for sharing with the Let’s Get Real party.
This dish looks amazing! I think I’ll try your fennel with cauliflower recipe. Thank you for sharing at the Talented Tuesday Link party. Have a great week!
OH goodness this sounds so delicious! Pinned! 🙂
Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!
Big believer in using up what I have available. Thanks for linking this at the Let’s Get Real Weekly Link Party. You will be my feature for this week. BTW, your prep and cook times have an H not M for minutes. I wasn’t sure if you knew.
i haven’t had cauliflower for so long guess its time to have another one this week thanks for the recipe
This looks so delicious, Sherry! Going to give this a try:).
I love your casserole dish! Thanks for sharing your link with us http://tryit-likeit.com/entries/link-party/creatively-crafty-link-party-14
Looks delicious, love this Parmesan cream sauce, thanks for sharing with Hearth and soul blog hop, tweeting. and pinning
This looks Yummy!! Can you believe I’ve never tried Fennel!! It’s on my list…. Thanks for sharing!! Hope to see you again at My 2 Favorite Things on Thursday Link Party!! Pinned!!
Congratulations!
Your recipe is featured on Full Plate Thursday this week. Enjoy your new Red Plate and have a great day!
Miz Helen
Thank you so much for featuring my recipe!