Coming Home to Fennel

Pear and Romaine Salad with Fennel, Walnuts, Blue Cheese and Lemon-Mint Vinagrette

After three months in Kosovo, Bus Boy is finally coming home – well, my home in New York City.  My initial inclination was to take the city by storm and continue to explore our list entitled, “this is my last week in New York City.”  After a thoughtful conversation with Bus Boy, however, we decided to choose our activities carefully and allow ourselves time to be a “normal” couple.  For us, normal includes long walks with Viva (my puppy), visiting “old haunts” (a trip to The Surrey for drinks is a must!) and cooking.

First, however, I needed to prepare for Bus Boy’s first meal in New York City.  His plane would land at 6:00PM on a Saturday night after a fourteen-hour trip.  My mind raced with ideas.  I knew I could not make anything with apples – he is still working his way through the barrel of apples he acquired from the farmer’s market!  I also would not make anything with tomato sauce.  After testing my recipes he has mastered his own sauce and eats it with various carbohydrates and proteins multiple times a week.

Staying away from apples and tomato sauce is easy enough but still, choosing foods full of fresh flavor is a broad category – a category I have been exploring for the past 11 months in this blog.  Rather than torture myself narrowing down hundreds of options, I asked Bus Boy what he would you like to eat.  His answer: “All I want to eat while in the United States is fresh fruit and vegetables.”  His answer did not narrow my choices but it is clear that he is dating the right girl!

After considering dozens of recipes, David Tanis‘ New York Times article, “Fennel Fills In For Salads in Fall” focused my attention on fennel.  What a great vegetable to get the taste-buds going!  In addition, I know Bus Boy can not find fennel at the Kosovo farmer’s market.  My challenge for this blog and Bus Boy’s welcome home meal was settled.  I would focus on fennel.

The strong licorice-like flavor of fennel adds interest and flare to countless vegetarian dishes.  I developed my favorite fennel recipe, ” Fennel Quinoa Salad With Shaved Asparagus, Turnips and Walnuts” for this blog.  Infusing quinoa with the flavor of fennel made the vegetarian staple something special.  Along with quinoa I often add fennel to soups, dressings and marinades.  I agree with David Tanis, however, that the best way to truly enjoy and appreciate fennel is to slice it thinly; dress it lightly; and allow the natural flavor to wow friends and family.

To satisfy Bus Boy’s craving for fruit and vegetables and to encourage the reawakening of his taste buds I decided to experiment with a flavor-filled pear, romaine and fennel salad garnished with walnuts in a lemon-mint dressing.  Baking firm pears slices coated in butter and sugar in a 500-degree oven caramelized the fruit to perfection.  The sweet but not syrupy fruit pieces contrasted perfectly with the bitter fennel.  The walnuts added great texture and my yearning for a satisfying crunch and the dressing added just a hint of unexpected flavor.  All of the flavors and textures melded together beautifully and were delicious, satisfying and refreshing.  Yet, I still felt like there was something missing.

The obvious answer was to follow tradition and add blue cheese.  A distinctly flavored, salty blue cheese would be a great compliment to the sweet caramelized pears. Bus Boy also loves strong cheese flavors! Bus Boy and I went grocery shopping together only once this summer to prepare for a meal.  Keen on a pear and blue cheese salad we began our journey at the cheese counter for some taste tests. With each taste of blue cheese Bus Boy grew increasingly unsettled.  He started simply by asking for a taste of a “nice” blue cheese to pair with pears.  The mild flavor and creamy texture was unacceptable.  For the second round he asked for a “stronger” blue cheese.  I could not taste the difference between the “nice” and “stronger” blue cheeses making the second taste-test a failure. Finally, with no progress toward his objective, Bus Boy looked at the cheese clerk and said, “I would like to taste a truly offensive blue cheese.”  Bingo!  The clerk gave us a blue cheese that had matured for 15 months in dark caves in Spain.  You could smell it as it was being unwrapped and it was, truly, offensive.  It was perfect.

I crumbled the same “offensive” blue cheese on this salad and finally had the combination of sweet, bitter and salty flavors that I craved.  I stored all of my ingredients in separate glass containers, placed them in the refrigerator and put together the salad again for lunch the next day just to be certain that my taste buds were not playing tricks on me.  The ingredients stored perfectly and the salad was even better than I had remembered from the prior night.  Without a doubt I would serve this salad to Bus Boy!

Romaine and Roasted Pear Salad with Fennel, Walnuts, Blue Cheese and          Lemon-Mint Vinaigrette

Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated, Romaine and Roasted Pear Salad with Fennel and Lemon    Vinaigrette, November 1, 2000

 

Roasted Pears

4 firm Anjou pears or Bartlett pears (about 2 pounds)

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Salad

1 ½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoons minced fresh mint leaves

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice from 1 lemon

½ teaspoon table salt

Ground black salt

1 head romaine lettuce, washed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces (about 8 cups)

1 small bulb fennel (about 8 ounces), stems, frond, and base trimmed; bulb halved, cored             and sliced thinly as possible (about 1 ¼ cups)

1cup walnuts, chopped coarse and toasted in small dry skillet over medium heat until             lightly browned and fragrant, about 3 minutes

4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

1.      For Roasted Pears: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, place baking sheet or broiler pan bottom on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees.

2.      Peel and halve each pear lengthwise. With paring knife or melon baller, remove core. Set each half cut-side down and slice lengthwise into fifths.

3.      Toss pears with butter; add sugar and toss again to combine. Spread pears in single layer on preheated baking sheet, making sure each slice lies flat on surface. Roast until browned on bottom, about 10 minutes. Flip each slice and roast until tender and deep golden brown, about 5 minutes longer. Let pears cool while preparing salad.

4.      For Salad: Whisk together oil, mint, lemon zest and juice, salt, and pepper to taste in small bowl.

5.     Combine romaine and fennel in large serving bowl. Add vinaigrette and toss gently to combine; scatter pears, blue cheese and walnuts on top. Serve immediately.