Stubbornness or Perseverance or blocks?
Fennel – do you love it, hate it or does it bring no strong emotions to the surface? For a few weeks each year I receive a plethora of Fennel bulbs in my organic box. Fennel brings up strong emotions within me! It is not a vegetable I can rave on about, nor is a veggie I wish to see every week, even cooked with fish, this vegetable palls after only a week or so. You could say I hate Fennel – an yet that would be too harsh an emotion to describe my feelings about this vegetable – really it is that I just that I do not find its taste harmonious within my diet.
Thinking about my feelings about Fennel brings up a mirror situation that elicits such feelings – and brings me squarely back into the power of the ‘will’ and how I use ‘intent’ within my life and world.
What do you do when a really good friend, a girl friend, or a boy friend, starts a relationship with a new partner, that causes a dissonance in your energy? You don’t like that person, not necessarily for the being they are, but for the connection they have made to your friend. Is it jealousy, or is a heartfelt desire for your friend to find their soul partner? Is it ego or is it spirit, or is simple human ickiness!
Now I might plump for all three choices – jealousy of that person for taking away my friends time from me, or that intuitively I feel this is not their soul partner and may cause them soul harm; or indeed that this person gives me the heebie jeebies as their energy interacts with my energy.
And yet – We are all parts of the same One energy – so how can it be that this feeling arises. I could spend pages going into the many reasons why some energy do not resonate with my vibrational frequency, or your vibrational frequency, but ultimately, it is not the question that is important but rather the resolution.
So when I meet a friend’s new partner and those Goosebumps of ickiness run up and down my aura, I sit on my big mouth and if this relationship looks set to last, then I will invite the couple to dinner with other friends. A dinner Party – the purpose of which is not only to cook, but to allow me to get to know this person and intuit a path towards creating a way to maintaining a civil relationship with the new partner. A dinner party generally allows all the friends within each group to meet the new partner in a convivial atmosphere, and allows me and other friends to speak one on one to the new partner without it being blatantly a ‘check out the new guy/girl’ occasion.
And so dishes are created, a clean energy space is created and fun and laughter ensues – and hopefully a way to connect to this new energy emerges when we all relax into the flow.
Fennel is something like that – this is not a vegetable to leave languishing in the fridge or the box until it’s goodness and energy has died away, rather this is something that with the right energy, creativeness and clothing can be a vegetable of beauty, taste and joy to me and brings a new and distinctly different energy to my way of being and my diet.
So to find a way to use this liquorice tasting bulb – and yes I do love liquorice, so I have no idea why I have to work so hard with this vegetable.
After much thinking, time and some inspiration at one of my favourite restaurants (Fox and Goose, Fressingfield) Fox and Goose
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| James Martin's Chocolate Mouse with Candied Fennel |
I decided to try doing candied Fennel, and braised with orange and blackberry as a savoury and below you can see the result of thoughts on how to use the Candied Fennel.
I had an abundance of Blood Oranges and wanted to try the flavours together which worked exceptionally well. You could use ordinary oranges - or if you can get hold of Blood Orange juice use that instead.
I used a mixture of caster sugar, unrefined, and agave nectar for a slightly different level of sweetness and balance in the syrup, but sugar syrup will work just fine too.
BLOOD ORANGE AND FENNEL CHEESE CAKE
A tinfoil lined 20cm springform tin
Candied Fennel
Juice of 3 Oranges (blood orange for preference)
6 tbspn of Water
1 tbspn Orange Flower Water
3oz caster sugar
2 tbspn Agave nectar
1 Fennel bulb thinly sliced into small pieces
Cheesecake
4oz softened butter
1 egg yolk
1 tbspn caster sugar
5oz plain flour (I use spelt ;)
Juice & zest of 1 Blood orange
2 blood oranges
1lb cream cheese
3 eggs
5oz sugar
2 tspn candied fennel
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| Blood orange |
METHOD – Candied Fennel
1. Place juice and zest of 3 blood oranges in small saucepan together with water and sugar.
2. on a low–medium heat and bring to a rolling simmer and allow to simmer for 5 minutes or until a syrup begins to form.
3. Add the sliced fennel and allow simmering for 5 minutes, before adding orange flower water.
4. Keep simmering for a further 5-7 minutes until syrup coats the back of a spoon and fennel is cooked.
5. You will need to add more water if the syrup thickens too much as the fennel must be cooked through.
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| Blood Orange Syrup |
METHOD - Cheesecake
Pre-heat oven to 200°C/ Gas Mark 7 / 400°F
Line a 20 cm tin with tinfoil
1. Put softened butter into a bowl and add egg yolk and sugar.
2. Using a fork blend together the ingredients and gradually add the flour. Continue blending together until the dough comes together into a ball.
3. Press dough into the base of the lined tin, and bake in hot oven for 11 minutes until the base has begun to colour.
4. Take out and put to one side. Reduce oven heat to 180°C/Gas Mark 5 / 325°F
5. Meanwhile mix the cream cheese with the sugar.
6. Add the juice of the Blood Orange, and 3 of the segmented orange pieces, and 1 tablespoon of the candied fennel.
7. Mix together well and add eggs, and continue to mix gently until the mixture is smooth.
8. Pour onto the warm base and put into the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until the top begins to colour.
9. Allow to cool in the tin, and when cool remove tin and base and put into fridge to completely chill.
10. When completely chilled you may remove the tin foil carefully and place the cheesecake on serving plate
11. Serve with the remains of the candied fennel, the remains of the syrup and double cream if desired.
The music for this process was a rediscovered 2 favourite albums.
