The best broth you will ever make: fennel broth (for free!)

I had pile of leek greens and fennel stalks and fronds I really didn’t know what to do with.

I saved the scraps in the freezer and to be honest I did think they would sit there for a year and freezer burn before I got around to making a vegetable stock. I find that most vegetable broths do not have enough *essence* to stand alone as its own soup. Usually they are ok for adding to risottos or flavouring a pot of beans or stew.
That is exactly where I thought this fennel broth would end up- I had a bit of the fennel broth in a measuring cup ready to go into a white bean stew when my neighbour dropped by. Simmering the broth made the house incredibly aromatic so she came into the kitchen right away to see what I was up too. “What is that?” she said. “fennel broth, try it”. She did. I think she said “oh my goodness”. or “that’s incredible”. or maybe it was ‘Mmmm’. Something along the lines of: This is the best broth you will ever make.

Here is the recipe, exactly as I made it:

Leftovers tonight- extraordinaire (using my CSA fennel, potatoes, and purslane)

This week in your box: kale (Starbor), beets, fennel, turnips (Hakurei), thyme, delicata squash, purslane, and two apples (Chehalis and an unknown variety)

I’ll admit it. I traded my beets and turnips again! When I stood there holding a bag of turnips (and checking they were not radishes…) and asked what was in the swap box the farm volunteer shrugged and said “a box full of purslane”- SOLD! Here is another way to use your purslane: Roasted Potatoes and Fennel with Purslane (ok, and proscuitto and parmesan!)

I’ve written how much I love purslane- the leaves are almost a citrusy green apple flavour and the stems are somewhat a crispy spinach stem. I love purslane so much because it can be both a sweet (breakfast quinoa!) and savoury (salad!) dish.
As I mentioned in a previous post- the best way to add purslane to your dishes is to use it in replace of watercress or in any savoury dish that would use apples. It’s best raw, or slightly wilted from the heat of soup, quinoa, or like tonight- roasted potatoes and fennel.