A delicious and simple side dish, fennel ‘beccafico style’ with bay leaves.
This is the vegetarian version of a well-known Sicilian dish, where instead of sardines, I preferred to use seasonal fennel.
Then the ingredients remain the same: bay leaves, breadcrumbs, garlic, pine nuts. Half an hour in the oven and the dish is ready.
I recalled this traditional dish when my blogger friends suggested talking about bay leaves for the usual monthly column, Herbs and Flowers on the Plate.
Bay Leaves:
From the heads of ancient Roman heroes to our table, bay leaf, this green plant so well-known in the Mediterranean area, is never missing.
If collected in Spring, bay leaves release many active ingredients that have made it famous. The leaves and berries contain essential oils like geraniol, terpineol, eucalyptol, along with minerals, vitamins, folic acid.
Great bay leaf teas for digestion and who doesn’t remember that the famous Aleppo Soap is rich in bay leaves.
In cooking, it is used as a flavor enhancer, essential with lentils and legumes, in vegetable broths, in stir-fried vegetables, in soups.
Here you can see some of my recipes where I used bay leaves
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Very Cheap
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Boiling, Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons
Ingredients for Fennel ‘Beccafico Style’ with Bay Leaves
- 4 fennel
- 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 tablespoon wild fennel
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 oz raisins
- 1 oz pine nuts
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 pinch pepper
- 20 leaves bay leaves
- 3 tablespoons orange juice (and grated peel)
- 1 tablespoon
Steps for Fennel ‘Beccafico Style’ with Bay Leaves
First, thoroughly wash the fennel, trim the stalks and save the fresh fronds, remove the base, and cut into 4 or 6 wedges.
Boil the fennel in water for 10 minutes, they should remain crunchy.
Rinse the raisins well and soak them in warm water for 10 minutes, then squeeze them well.
In a pan, pour a small amount of olive oil, add the breadcrumbs, and toast while stirring for a few minutes.
In a bowl, mix the breadcrumbs, squeezed raisins, pine nuts, a little wild fennel, sugar, salt, and pepper.
Set aside, meanwhile, grease a baking dish suitable to hold the fennel in a single layer. Alternate the fennel with bay leaves, placing them vertically. Cover with the breadcrumb mixture, drizzle with orange juice and grated peel.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F and serve hot.
Tips from Thyme and Lentils
Naturally, you can use other vegetables depending on the season. Try using orange sweet potatoes instead of fennel, or thick slices of cauliflower or zucchini chunks. The important thing is that the bay leaves serve as a separator between the slices.
Check out other recipes with bay leaves from the friends of the ‘Herbs and Flowers on the Plate’ column:
Tiziana: Beer Chicken
Miria: Polish Bean Soup
Elisa: Mackerel with Bay Leaves and Orange
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