The soft anise taste of this early fennel combines very well with pasta. The fennel stays a little crispy which makes it a very suitable vegetable for vegetarian recipes: it has a little bit of bite. One of my favourite vegetables. This dish has a nice combination of tastes. This dish is suitable for spring, summer and early autumn.
For two persons:
– 150g of pasta. I used spelt fusilli.
– 1 leek
– 1 fennel
– 200g cannellinni beans (white kidney beans/ white long beans)
– 5 sun dried tomatoes
– 1 onion
– 3 cloves of garlic
– 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
– 1 teaspoon dried oregano
– 1 teaspoon dried thyme
– 1 teaspoon dried chives
– 1/2 teaspoon wasabi. You can leave it out if you don’t have it. For something spicy you can substitute it with chili pepper or black pepper.
– 1 teaspoon apple vinegar
– some grated cheese or nutritional yeast flakes
– salt
– olive oil
Put a cooking pan with water on the stove for the pasta with a little salt.
Shred the onion and garlic into small pieces. Cut the fennel into small parts and the leek into rings. Keep the leaves of the fennel for garnishing. Cut the sun dried tomatoes into smaller pieces.
Sauté the onions for 10 minutes on low fire in a frying or sauté pan.
Boil the pasta according to the instructions on the package. For al dente pasta you mostly stick to the lower cooking time.
Add the garlic to the onion and fry for 2 minutes on low heat. Then add the leek and the fennel and fry for 5 minutes on low to moderate heat: until the leek is soft. Then add the beans, sun dried tomatoes, apple vinegar, dried herbs and wasabi. Warm for a few minutes on low to moderate heat until it’s all warm.
Serve the pasta with the vegetables, some cheese or nutritional yeast flakes and the fennel leaves.
