Consume Me

This is really easy, and very, very tasty – and a great way of making a little smoked salmon feed four people. Fennel bulbs are good for your digestion, balance out your blood sugars, and have a delicately aniseed taste that even people who think they hate licorice will like (so long as you don’t tell them about it beforehand!). If you’ve never cooked fennel before, start with this recipe.

Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 20 Minutes
Ready In: 30 Minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 2 fennel bulbs

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 tablespoon of capers

• Juice of half a lemon

• 200gm smoked salmon (or smoked trout, if you prefer)

• Pepper to taste

• 500gm pasta shapes – orichette are traditional, but any shape will do – just not noodles, as the sauce won’t cling to them

Directions:

1. Start the water boiling for your pasta.
2. Slice the fennel bulbs finely (chop the fronds and keep them aside for later).
3. Cut the smoked salmon into small chunks about the size of your thumbnail and put them aside.
4. Start the pasta cooking.
5. Heat the olive oil in a large-ish frying pan over medium heat.
6. Add the capers and fry for about 30 seconds.
7. Add the fennel, stir well, then cover the frypan and let it cook, stirring occasionally, for about ten minutes, or until the fennel is soft.
8. Your pasta should be cooked about now, so drain it and leave it aside for a minute or so.
9. Take the frypan off the heat and add the lemon juice, fennel fronds and the salmon to the fennel, and stir through briefly.
10. Add the pasta shapes and stir them through.
11. Add pepper to taste (and a little sea salt, if you really have to), and serve.