I have been rather addicted to fennel as of late. God knows why. Perhaps maybe because it tastes great, and has so many options available to it. The day started off kinda rubbish weather-wise.. cold, and rainy, so I thought something a little stewy for dinner might be rather nice. Something still fresh tasting, and light, but something with a wee bit of body to it.

 I was leafing through “Italian Two Easy”, which I have professed my love for in numerous previous posts, and in there they had a recipe for mozzarella with grilled red and yellow peppers. Ohh, that looks nice I thought. The peppers were grilled, mixed with some olive oil, a few herbs, and robert’s your fathers brother (bob’s your uncle… look it up). This was served with a tasty chunk of mozzarella. Well, to make a long story longer, we have been chomping through our fair share of mozzarella recently, and I fancied something different.

So, this is the experiment I came up with.. The red and yellow peppers are grilled on a high heat until the skins go black in places, and start to blister. Bung em in a bowl, and cover with cling-film. Let them steam a bit, and then take them out and peel them. Pretty easy that bit. They look great, and smell fabulous right now. Slice them up. Thinly slice some fennel bulb. Heat some olive oil in a pan, and bung in the fennel, and a few tearings of the fennel leaves. I always dislike when people just throw away the amazing herby leaves on fennel, they just taste great. Anyhow. Slowly cook the fennel until soft, and bung in the peppers into the mix. Pop a good clug or two of chicken stock into the pan, and cover for about 5 minutes. Everything should heat through well, and the peppers have colored the stock nicely. Add some basil chiffonade to the mix.

In another pan, sear the cod on the flesh side. Turn it over in the pan, and bung it in the oven for 5 minutes, until done. When is it done? When the center of the fish is no longer translucent, and the fish flakes easily with a fork. Righto. Put a dollop of the peppers in the middle of the plate, and spoon over some of the sauce from that pan. Pop the fish on top, and job done!

So what to go with it. Ah, a nice side salad! Nothing too complex either. A mix thinly sliced fennel bulb again, some Frisee, and a dressing of red wine vinegar, dijon mustard and olive oil. A wee bit of salt and pepper, and we have a salad. This is photographed in a previous post. So go hunt it down! And of course, this is served with some bread. Yep, ciabatta again, because it is great for dipping in sauces.

I was well happy with this one. The peppers tasted rich, slightly smoky from the BBQ. Nothing too heavy though thankfully. The broth sauce was a bit of a winner too actually, again light, flavorful enough body to hold up, but nothing too thick to make the meal heavy. These red peppers could have the makings of a good soup too.

A glass of wine, and good company, and another perfect evening. This was pretty easy to cook for 4 also. We had Danika’s parents over for dinner, and I always try to cook something fast when they are here.. It never quite works out that way though somehow. Tonight it did. Often Danika’s dad joins me in the kitchen, and chats whilst drinking a Scotch. I end up talking more than cooking, and things get delayed. Works for me though. I enjoy social cooking, and he is a great bloke to talk to. I honestly cannot say how much of a pleasure it is having in laws that you really enjoy the company of. I am also a pretty terrible time estimator, so when trying a new recipe out on them (they are great for that), something that I think will take 10 minutes, takes 30. This was dead good for a few people though… Not really any more work for an extra two people (I am used to cooking for just Danika and I.. until Drake can eat stuff that isn’t blended up!)