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What type of fennel do you have - the leaf fronds or the bulb type?

I don't know what kind of fennel you have, but here's a recipe for wild fennel.

Ingredients:

* 1 1/2 pound wild fennel fronds
* 3 eggs
* 1 cup high-quality parmesan cheese
* 1 cup coarse bread crumbs
* 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
* Salt and black pepper to taste
* Extra virgin olive oil
* Peanut Oil

Directions:

Gather young fennel fronds. Fennel hearts are the bright green, furry piece that is in the center of the stalk of fennel. When you're gathering them, pick only the fronds and lay them in a paper bag horizontally -- all the tops should be pointing in the same direction. Keep them laying horizontally as you wash them gently in a bucket of water, holding them in your hands to avoid bruising. Wash and parboil for 15-20 minutes. Make sure to wash fronds very well. Lay the stalks on the cutting board and chop finely. Taste to make sure they are tender. Drain and dry in own steam -- you can stir a little with a wooden spoon to help the cooling process. When the fronds are cold, place in a bowl and add lightly beaten eggs, add all the dry ingredients together with the fronds. Form into patties. Heat cast iron or non-sticking frying pan with a very little bit of olive oil cut with a very small amount of peanut oil. Fry fennel cakes on both sides until golden brown. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drain again on a paper towel. Best when served warm.

presuming you have bulbs

chop off top stems ( usually four )
remove coarse outer layer
slice off hard bottom (about 1/4 inch)
slicing vertically cut into ten or twelve segments
lay in oven proof dish (just big enough to hold)
fill with chicken stock to level of fenel ( we're not making soup here)
sprinkle with black pepper and parmigiano dot with butter
put in middle oven at 180 for 45 mins or tender and light brown on top

Buy "Jamies Italy" book just about every recipe in there involves Fennel!

[QUOTE=herealready]Buy "Jamies Italy" book just about every recipe in there involves Fennel![/QUOTE]

Oh please Ronald. Please, please please. Can't we move this thread to the Circolo de Conversazione section:D

Have a look at the Waitrose site ([url]www.waitrose.com[/url]) under recipes and put in fennel as the keyword. They usually have stacks of excellent and simple to follow recipes. Hope this helps.