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Confit fennel with Puy lentils

Fennel slow-cooked in olive oil until meltingly sweet, served over earthy Puy lentils with toasted walnuts and creamy goat's cheese. A rustic, satisfying vegetarian main.

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Nonna Maria
Nonna Maria's Tips

Slow-cooked fennel in fragrant olive oil served alongside earthy lentils prepared with soffritto and bay leaf, a rustic, vegetable-focused Italian comfort pairing.

  • Replace the stock cube with either lightly salted water or a simple homemade vegetable broth based on carrot, celery, onion, and bay leaf to keep flavors clean and traditional.

  • Begin your lentils with a true soffritto of finely diced carrot, celery, and onion slowly sautéed in olive oil before adding lentils and liquid, rather than cooking lentils directly in stock.

Avoid

  • Fennel left crunchy or only lightly roasted instead of slowly cooked until tender and sweet.

  • Lentils cooked without soffritto, resulting in one-dimensional flavor.

Ingredients

0/13 gathered
Serves 4

1.1 lb fennel

6 strips lemon peel

7 clove garlic

0.1 oz whole black peppercorns

3 whole bay leaves

12 oz olive oil

8 oz Puy lentils

1 whole vegetable stock cube

2 oz walnut halves

¾ oz lemon juice

0.1 oz dijon mustard

½ oz dill

3 oz goat's cheese

Preparation

0/5 steps
1
Heat oven to 320°F/284°F fan/gas 3. Combine fennel, lemon peel, 6 crushed garlic cloves, peppercorns, bay leaves and 2 tsp salt in a deep dish, then pour over the olive oil until submerged. Cover tightly with foil and cook 2 hrs 30 mins, turning halfway.
2
Cover the Puy lentils with 675ml water, boil, crumble in the stock cube, then simmer 30 mins until tender with a little bite.
3
In the last 15 mins, toast the walnuts on a tray until golden, checking at 10 mins, then chop.
4
Strain the fennel, saving 60ml of the fragrant olive oil. Whisk the minced garlic, lemon juice and dijon mustard, then drizzle in the oil until emulsified. Stir in most of the dill, season, and toss with the lentils and walnuts.
5
Divide lentils between plates, top with fennel, crumbled goat's cheese and extra dill, and finish with cracked black pepper.