Monday's Cooking class

I did pretty well on my midterm practical. We were supposed to make fennel three ways. I think I succeeded in making it four ways. I used the stalks of the fennel in my chicken stock to make a hybrid fennel/chick stock. Pretty good all by itself. Then I used it to make my risotto. I wasn't exactly sure how well it would taste. Granted, I'm not a fan of fennel. But it was wonderful! I took some fresh fennel and roasted it with carrots, celery and parsnips. Yummy! That was mixed in with the risotto. I also took fennel seeds and made italian sausage with sauteed apples. That was great! Chef O'Donnell said it was real good. Must have done something right. So there's my day last monday. Cooking the recipes after that was pretty easy. Overall, fennel gets a bad rap. It doesn't always have to taste like liquorice. Just patience and some experience will work out great.