Fresh Fennel White Sauce

Fresh Fennel White Sauce is all about the Alliums. This is a recipe for a fresh Fennel pasta sauce that is delightfully light and easy to make.  Very delicate flavors of fennel, leek, celery, sweet onion, shallot and garlic combine well in this sauce of white wine, butter and parmesan cheese. Always use quality ingredients .  Choose a wine that you would enjoy drinking to cook with.  We use Sauvignon Blanc for this recipe and we splurge on the quality of the Parmesan cheese.  The fennel is grown in our gardens.  We grow a bulbing variety every year to harvest for this very sauce! Enjoy!

Your Ingredients:

Fennel Bulbs, two, cleaned and sliced

Sweet Onion, sliced

Leeks,  two, cleaned and sliced

Shallot, thinly sliced

Celery, 2 ribs sliced

Garlic, 2 or 3 cloves, chopped

Butter, one stick

Parmesan Cheese, 1/2 cup grated

Cream Cheese, 1/2 block

White Wine, 1 cup, we use Sauvignon Blanc

Vegetable broth, 1 cup

Fresh Herbs of Thyme, Parsley, Chives 

Sea Salt, White Pepper

Directions:

In a deep skillet that has a good lid:  Coat the bottom with a good EVOO and add thinly sliced onion, celery, and garlic, and saute for 3 or 4 minutes adding half the butter a tablespoon at a time.  Add leeks, shallot and fresh herbs, reserving some herbs for topping pasta. Add sliced Fennel and combine, coating the Fennel in the mixture, saute.  Add Wine and stir, burning off the alcohol. Add vegetable broth and rind of parmesan cheese, if you have it, cover and bring to slight boil, stirring occasionally. Add one half the grated parmesan cheese to melt into the sauce to thicken and create creaminess.  Simmer until Fennel is translucent and tender.  At this time, melt cream cheese into the sauce, mixing thoroughly. Serve on Angel Hair or Pasta of your choice, top with remaining Fresh Herbs and Grated Parmesan.  Serve with a Caesar Salad and a Glass of White Wine. Fresh Peas or sliced Mushrooms can be added also. Enjoy!