Fennel, Shallot, and Harissa Confit
I’d been seeing fennel at the grocery store for a while this year before I finally decided to buy some. I hadn’t cooked with it that much before and was a little unsure of what I actually wanted to do with it. First I made a shaved fennel salad, which was simple, fresh, and tasty, but the weather that week was pretty cold and rainy, so it didn’t quite seem to match the mood. Cooked fennel sounded more appealing…maybe?
Since I hadn’t much experience with fennel, I was really struggling to figure out what I wanted to cook. In fact, I wasn’t even sure how much I liked it in the first place. Wouldn’t I eat it more often if I liked it? Considering salads are the most common fennel recipes I see, does it just generally taste better raw?
Over here, we have a jar I stole from the medical mysteries museum. Just kidding. But yeah, it’s not the most aesthetic thing in the world.
I’m glad I got over my initial hesitation, because it turns out I’m a cooked fennel kind of gal. Okay, that’s not that surprising: I like most every vegetable better cooked than raw. EVEN RADISHES. What’s up with you all (meaning: everyone in the world, seems like) eating raw radishes all the time? It’s not crunchy water, like lettuce and cucumber. It can handle a little heat. I mean, look at this feisty little fella:
Anyway. Back to fennel.
It turns out it’s really good as a confit–especially with harissa and shallots.
Raw fennel does indeed have a fresh, springy flavor, but cooked fennel is deep and sophisticated. Fennel salad is your beach boyfriend who’s obsessed with diving, and fennel confit is your bookstore boyfriend reading The Dawn of Everything on the couch right now. And I’m not disparaging either one, because my boyfriend is both of those things. Sometimes, though, you just want to cuddle up on the sofa with a giant book and drip oil all over your sweater as you eat baguettes and confit.
What is confit? It’s a method of slow-cooking in oil, originally with the intention of preserving food, but nowadays people (including me) seem to do it just because it tastes good. It’s also pretty easy, and though it takes a long time, it’s totally hands-off so you don’t actually need to do much.
I love the flavor in this recipe of slow-cooked fennels and shallots paired with spicy harissa. I also add orange peel for just a little citrusy brightness. Cooked fennel has a more intense “fennel” flavor, which is a bit like anise or licorice, so if you don’t like that sort of thing, raw fennel does seem to be lighter on it.
Notes on the ingredients:
Fennel: I used the bulb and stems and then kept the fronds for garnishing. While it looks nice to slice so you can see the shape of the fennel, keep in mind that the stems are pretty fibrous, so as far as eating comfort goes, it’s better to chop them up into smaller pieces.
Harissa: I used a tablespoon and thought it was just the right amount of spicy, but you may want to adjust this to your taste. Be careful you don’t add too much harissa even if you like it hot as heck, as it can be pretty salty, too.
Orange peel: While you can eat the orange peel, I don’t. I just use it for flavor. It won’t be soft like the rest of the confit–just chewy!
Recipe:
Fennel, Shallot, and Harissa Confit
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 250°F.
- Arrange the fennel, shallots, and orange peel in an oven-safe pan or dish, large enough that the ingredients are crowded but not piled up on each other.
- Mix the olive oil and harissa and pour it over the vegetables. Add more olive oil if needed so that they are more or less submerged.
- Cook in the oven for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. You may want to check on it every once in a while to see how it's coming along. It'll be ready when it's soft.
Serving suggestions:
Spread on a baguette
Spread on a baguette WITH GOAT CHEESE!!
Spread on a sandwich
Mixed into a lentil salad (with optional–but recommended–goat cheese), which makes a great work lunch
In salad dressings: the oil used in place of regular oil
I also like just dunking bread into confit oil and balsamic vinegar
