One of my favorite things to do with a batch of Sunday Focaccia is to dunk it into this simple Mediterranean-inspired soup. It features a combination of fennel and dill, which evokes the food I grew up with in a Greek American home. The best thing about the soup is that it’s quick to make (it’ll only need 20 minutes to simmer), and like most soups, it tastes even better after a day or two.
Because barley is the first crop to ripen in the spring it has become a symbol of new life and hope, making it the perfect grain for this vibrant springtime salad.
The greatest failure when making potato salad is overcooking the spuds—creamy mashed pota-toes is a no-go for any potato salad recipe. You want a waxy variety like fingerlings, Yukon Golds, or red potatoes; these varieties will keep their shape and texture when cooked right. Bobby Seale, cofounder of the Black Panther Party, said it well in his 1988 cookbook Barbeque’n with Bobby, where he wrote under a recipe titled “Hunky Crunchy Potato Salad” that his mother’s potato salad was a “tasty quasi-mashed potato salad.” My pro tip is to season the potatoes while they are warm. Begin your training to be a queen.
Who says Greek salad is only for summer? By using winter veggies, but keeping the same feta-oregano flavour profile, you can easily extend this salad’s seasonality and eat it year-round. I love the combo of bitter leafy radicchio with the sharp, creamy cheese and fragrant, anise- like flavour of the fennel. Almond feta is a vegan nut cheese (sourced from speciality organic shops) - even if you’re not vegan, it’s a delicious swap in any dish requiring a soft white cheese.
I pretty much always want something braised for dinner, and as much as I love braising the legs of a cow, pig, or lamb, they take a few hours to get tender and thus aren’t always the best option for a weeknight. A chicken’s legs, on the other hand, braise in less than an hour, so you can have a righteous braised dish any night of the stupid week! This super simple stew is inspired by autumn flavors, using bacon, fennel, and apples (both fresh and in hard apple cider). You could totally swap out the hard cider if you’re not into the alcohol, but I would use chicken stock or water rather than apple juice or fresh cider, either of which would make it a little too sweet. There’s something about the smoky, salty, sweet, and slightly bitter elements of this dish, cooked down with chicken that is just starting to fall apart, that makes me want to smoke cigars and write a novel, but I don’t actually like cigars, and if I wrote a novel, it would just be a fictional cookbook, so it’s probably better to stick with cooking chicken for now.
The recipe for Farro with Vinegar-Glazed Sweet Potato and Apples from the editors of Food & Wine’s book Potluck, brings together the flavors of autumn. Every element of this salad can be made ahead of time and pulled out when ready to eat. Farro or wheat berries are cooked with fennel, onion and garlic in stock until al dente. While the farro simmers, roast sweet potatoes and apples in the oven until tender and then toss them with a bit of sherry vinegar. When you’re ready to eat, mix the farro with dried cherries, cashews, a bit of parsley, and the roasted squash and apples. Serve with a shaving of pecorino cheese and commence!
Portland- and San Francisco–based bartender Kate Bolton has the touch for subtle, delicate drinks that go wonderfully with food. This spin on the gimlet is no exception: shaking shaved fennel and muddled arugula into the drink gives it an anise-and-pepper flavor that’s ideal for serving with seafood or light pasta dishes.
Full of spices, fresh ginger, and sweet dried apricots, this is a spunky and highly fragrant stew. The kale gives it enough vegetable matter to make it a one-pot meal, and the chickpeas are velvety and satisfying.
My mom would make a version of this classic salad all the time when I was growing up, often to accompany baked beans and “red snappy” hot dogs as a sneaky way to get in some fruits and veggies. I still love the combination of flavors, but now I like to up the ante with fennel and candied walnuts, which are sweet and salty in all the right ways.
Paella’s lesser-known cousin, fideos, boasts small toasted noodles simmered in a smoky tomato sauce. For a weeknight version, we swapped chorizo and shellfish for chickpeas, fennel, and kale.