You wonder how he knows what smashed a-hole tastes like, don't you?
Anyway, raw fennel tastes like cabbage vaguely flavored with anise. I have an abundance of tomatoes so thought I'd make soup. I have fresh baked pretzel bread to go with it (uh, yeah
). Here's the sort of recipe:
- Fresh tomatoes, seeded and diced up
- 1/2 bulb of fennel, sliced thin
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 jalapenos, minced
- 2 minced carrots
- olive oil
- butter
- fresh dill
- fresh basil
- pinch of tarragon
- 1 C chicken broth
- splash of sherry
- salt and pepper to taste
In a soup pot, saute the garlic, jalapeno, carrots and fennel in the butter and olive oil (like, 2 T of each fat). When the veggies are really soft, add the herbs and sherry. Cook for a little bit over medium to get everything together.
Add the chicken broth and diced tomatoes. Cook for like a half hour to an hour over medium, stirring periodically. Taste it and add salt and pepper as you like.
Now comes the dumb part:
You can leave it chunky OR: use an immersion blender to puree the soup. No immersion blender? Sux2BU because now you have to let it cool and put it through the food processor.
Anyway, when you get through all that, you will come out with a fresh tomato soup that rivals Amy's Organic chunky tomato bisque (which is the best tomato soup in the world). And it goes great with toasted dark bread, like the aforementioned pretzel bread. You can sprinkle bacon bits on top, and hit it with croutons, or just slurp it au naturel.
Yum.
