Nigel Slater’s Fennel, Cream, and Pine Nuts

• porsi: 2

Bahan-bahan

fennel 1lb 10 oz/750g

olive oil

heavy cream 1 cup/240ml

fresh white bread 1½ oz/45g

parsley leaves ½ cup/10g

zest of 1 orange, finely grated

pine nuts ¼ cup/25g

Petunjuk

Set the oven at 425°F/200°C. Trim the fennel, then slice into pieces no thicker than a pencil. The thicker you slice them, the longer they will take to cook. Warm a thin layer of olive oil in an ovenproof frying pan, then add the fennel, a few pieces at a time if there isn't room for them all at once, and let them cook until pale gold. Remove from the heat and pour in the cream.

Tear up the white bread and place in the bowl of a food processor. Add the parsley leaves, the grated zest of the orange, a little salt and black pepper, and the pine nuts. Process briefly to create a rough-textured crumb mixture.

Scatter the seasoned breadcrumb mixture over the surface of the cream. Trickle a little olive oil over the crumbs. Bake for twenty to twenty- five minutes until the cream is bubbling around the edges.

Catatan

• Cooking fennel in this way softens the vegetable's aniseed notes. You can also make this recipe with celery instead of fennel, cutting the ribs into short lengths and baking with the cream as above.

• I sometimes bake small, floury potatoes at the same time, then spoon the fennel cream over the baked potato, mashing the aniseed-scented cream into the soft flesh of the potato.