And That is What Fennel Tastes Like

Chocolate Fennel Pudding

 I blame my mother for a good amount of my cookbooks, and I think that she would be alright with that sort of blame.  I don't think that the blame that I have multiple books on how to prepare food to sustain my life is going to leave her with too many sleepless nights. In fact, I think she would be rather proud that I am not living off of Ramen Noodles and hot tea.  

When I was in the early stages of living on my own for the first time, my offered me some cookbooks that she had no use for, and I took them. Then I never got rid of them, because I have problems getting rid of books in general.  In the mix of books that my mother gifted me were three Food & Wine cookbooks.  They are also one of my favorite cookbooks, which means I had to go out side of my comfort zone to find something that I had not ever made or modified.  That something ended up being Chocolate Fennel Pudding out of the Quick from Scratch- Herbs & Spices Cookbook.

I want to believe that anything in chocolate is wonderful. I really want to believe that. I feel a little bit like XFiles when I say that.  However, fennel might be pushing that theory.  I do no like fennel, anise, black liquorish, horehounds or anything else of that ilk.  I want to like fennel, because it is used in Indian Food and Indian Food make me happy, and tastes like an explosion of awesome in my mouth every time I have it. My sense go in to overdrive, and the rich heady flavor of Indian Food makes me believe that peace can be found in a bowl of sauce and rice. I sincerely want to have affection for  fennel, which is why I tried this recipe. As a side bonus, I have never made a pudding from scratch, which sounded a little bit like alchemy according the the recipe.

I didn't know you could do such things with just cream and eggs and chocolate. It was amazing. It was fabulous. It actually turned into pudding, which had me hopping around my kitchen like a deranged rabbit celebrating that my stove top pudding actually looked like a pudding, in all of its pudding glory.  The final test was how did it it taste. Can I love fennel?  This question could only be answered with a spoon. Bravely I dipped my spoon into the hot pudding and tasted it. It wasn't bad. It didn't kill me. I could eat it warm and ignore the fennel aftertaste. Scooping the pudding out of the pot, I concealed it in a container and put it in the refrigerator.  Pudding is meant to be cold.

Pudding is like alchemy. Once the pudding cooled, it revealed its true flavor.  Holy Fennel, Batman!  It was like a black liquorish nightmare. It was strong in flavor and overpowered the mighty chocolate flavor.  Fennel was not happy being a byline to chocolate and stole the limelight of the pudding. The flavor of fennel demanded to be front and center like a prima donna. I couldn't consume it in pleasure, the force of the fennel was too strong for me.  Thankfully my husband, who is immune to the fennel stepped up and saved me from the pudding of doom.

While I was not able to conquer the fennel in this round, I was able to made a pudding, which I have since duplicated minus the fennel. It was a delight.  I am pleased to with this new ability, and some what ashamed of the amount of pudding I intend to make in the future.