There seems to be wild fennel all over the place in the garrigue and at the sides of roads at the moment and I picked a bunch of it to bring home. I’d bought 300 grams of sauté de veau (pieces of veal for casseroling) in the village shop and the fennel suggested a recipe to me. I softened a sliced onion in a little olive oil with a chopped slice of poitrine salée (salted bacon cut in thick slices would work as well) in a cast iron casserole dish. I added the veal cut into small pieces. When they had browned slightly I added two chopped cloves of garlic, two teaspoons of tomato purée and the chopped fennel (you could use the leafy tops of fennel bulbs if you can’t find this herb in the wild). I poured a large glass of white wine over it all, added some salt and pepper and simmered it for an hour.
We ate the casserole with potatoes mashed with olive oil, garlic and green olives – a favourite of ours. It was a wonderful mix of flavours.
olivesandartichokes 
Sounds delicious. Mashed potatoes with green olives? Have to try that.
It’s one of my favourites – I buy a jar of stoned green olives, nothing special, and just chop them to add to the potato.
That sounds lovely. I chopped up lots of fennel last night for a big Greek salad and the smell was so good!
Oooh, I bet that salad was wonderful too! Wherever I walk at this time of year the ground smells of fennel or thyme – I love it.
Oh we have fennel in the gardens! YAY! I am going to try this for sure. i have no veal though, but a nice grass fed piece of beef would do! cooking with wild herbs is even better though! c
Oh, yes, you’re own beef will be wonderful!
You’re beginning to make a habit of posting recipes that have the flavours that are exactly what I would like to be eating::)
Oh, good! Nice synchronicity. It must be the season….I wonder if you have wild fennel where you are.
This sounds like something the women in my family would have prepared. Fennel fronds were often used as an herb and even now, I bring a bulb of fennel when I return home for a visit. Zia freezes the fronds for use until my next visit. I’m going back this week and will her your recipe and dish. I bet she’ll like your dish as much as I do.
This is definitely more of a winter dish for me but it still has my mouth watering. Very simple yet different flavors.
Absolutely gorgeous. We have so much wild fennel round here too and I am always popping it into dishes. The potatoes sound great too, will have to give them a go with the olives.
The wild fennel is really impressive this year. I will try to take a photo when the sun comes back, as by the time our summer visitors arrive there are only stalks left. If i could catch the snails that eat the fennel, I might be tempted to eat them as they would be very tasty.