Chicken cacciatore is classically a “hunter’s stew”, but I’ve borrowed the general idea and stalked the produce aisle for fennel instead of fowl. I’ve flipped polenta on its head, too, turning it into free-form dumplings that add body and texture to the stew from above, rather than remaining hidden underneath.
Braised fennel is just heavenly in the colder months and cooking it this way softens its fibrous, woolly edges and brings out even more floral notes. I love the idea of burnishing them a little before letting them bubble away in the oven.
When shopping for fennel, avoid bulbs with any woody brown bits or slimy spots that show it’s had a tough time in cold storage. Fennel is a bit like celery in that it starts to lose moisture and looks quite haggard when it has been sitting on the shelf for too long.
Fennel also starts to oxidise and discolour once you chop into it, so it helps to have some acidulated iced water (spiked with lemon juice or light-coloured vinegar) on hand to dunk your bits into. If your fennel is looking a little worse for wear, trim off any bruises or dried-out dents before refreshing in iced water. Don’t leave it in the water for longer than an hour though, as its flavour will leach out.
And, whatever you do, don’t forget about the fronds! Use them as you would dill – fennel and dill are cousins, after all.
To speed up the cooking time, instead of browning the fennel, whack all the ingredients (except the dumplings) in a baking dish and bake in a preheated 240C oven for 45 minutes.
To make this dish fully plant-based, pull out the parmesan and replace with a hard cheese containing non-animal rennet.
And if you really want to add meat, squeeze some pork and fennel sausages out of their casings to use as “meatballs”, brown on all sides, then add them to the simmering sauce around the fennel. Or return the recipe to its source (sauce?) material and nestle in some browned chicken thighs and drumsticks.
Alice Zaslavsky’s recipe for fennel cacciatore with free-form polenta dumplings
Serves 4–6
1 cup (190g) coarse polenta
3 to 4 medium fennel bulbs, stalks trimmed, fronds reserved
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
¾ cup (140g) black olives, pitted
2 to 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
400g tin whole peeled tomatoes
1 scant tsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 rosemary sprigs
Grated parmesan, to garnish
Preheat the oven to 190C, with a flameproof casserole dish inside. Soak the polenta in 1 cup (250ml) of cold water while preparing the remaining ingredients.
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Cut the fennel bulbs vertically in half at their widest point, then cut again into quarters (if they’re particularly bulbous, sixths might be the ticket). Coat generously in olive oil.
When the casserole dish is hot, carefully extract it from the oven wearing oven mitts and arrange the fennel in a single layer, then sear on each side over medium–high heat for five to 10 minutes on the hob.
Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the olives and garlic and stir until glossy. Break the tomatoes up a little as you pour them out of the tin into the pan. Half-fill the empty tin with water, give it a swirl, then add to the pan.
Sprinkle in the sugar and salt. Simmer for 10 minutes. Use two tablespoons to shape the soaked polenta into blobs, arranging them on top of the sauce. Cover the dish with foil or a tightly fitting lid. Transfer to the oven and bake for 40 minutes, or until the fennel is softened and the sauce has reduced.
Remove from the oven and take the foil or lid off. Turn the oven up to 220C. Add the rosemary sprigs to the dish and sprinkle with parmesan. Bake, uncovered, for a further five minutes.
Check for seasoning, then garnish with more parmesan and the reserved fennel fronds. Serve as a rich side dish or a hearty main.
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This is an edited extract from In Praise of Veg by Alice Zaslavsky, photography by Ben Dearnley, published by Murdoch Books in Australia (A$59.99) and the UK (£25) and in the US (US$35) and Canada (C$45) where it is published by Appetite by Random House
