Fennel flowers, folklore and little stars…

On the kitchen table… fennel flowers, their little blossoms like star bursts with a slight scent of liquorice, honey and lemon. I came across some fresh fennel bulbs at the market about a month ago but life has taken over for a bit since then! These fennel were irresistible in their curviness. (Male fennel are slimmer, the female fennel more rounded and sweeter – said to be ‘like the many beautiful, curvy women of the Mediterranean shores these plants are indigenous to’!) 😘

I thinly sliced a fennel bulb, drizzled it with olive oil and baked it with prunes and a glug of Marsala wine. (The one with ‘the little cart on the label’, as we call it.) Boronia Marsala is described as ‘an Australian vino dolce that pays homage to its Italian origins’ so it seemed appropriate. If it was summer here, I would’ve left the fennel raw and tossed it with orange segments, olive oil, salt and pepper for a delicious, fresh salad. After eating either of these dishes, no need, I think, for any ‘Milk of Magnesia’ (for those who’ve spied the old blue bottle the fennel flowers are in!) That said, the sentimental side of me loves how the flowers are like a starry sky next to this luminous, blue glass.