It is known that children do not like vegetables. Even I as a child followed the rule that green in the dish was equivalent to clenching the jaws. In the 1980s, however, there was the custom of hiding everything with sauces or creams and thus “fooling” children.
One way to make neutral fennel appetizing is to bake it with this sumptuous French sauce. Mouth-watering. Children will love it and it’ll make you look great at dinners with friends or relatives. Also, because it’s become so obsolete it has practically disappeared from restaurant menus.

Baked fennel with Mornay sauce

  • Preparation time: 90 minutes
  • Ingredients for 6-8 servings
  • Difficulty: Average difficult recipe

  • Ingredients
  • 5 fennels
  • Breadcrumbs to taste
  • Butter to taste
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • For the Mornay Sauce:
  • 2 oz (50 grams) of butter
  • 2 oz (50 grams) of flour
  • 2 cups of milk
  • 1 tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 tablespoon of grated gruyere cheese
  • 2 egg yolks
  1. Instructions
  2. Preheat the oven at 350° F.
  3. Wash the fennels well. Remove the stems and green beards. Detach the base of the core and remove the first harder outer leaves. Cut them into thin wedges about 1 inch thick.
  4. Bring plenty of salted water to a boil in a saucepan. Boil the fennel wedges for about fifteen minutes with simmering water. Drain them and cook them briefly in a pan with a knob of butter, just long enough to dry the cooking water.
  5. Prepare the Mornay sauce. Finely grate both the Parmesan and Gruyere cheese.
  6. In a pan on medium heat melt the butter, add the flour, and start whisking. Cook the dough for a couple of minutes. Add the warm milk while constantly whisking and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and continue cooking for three to four minutes.
  7. Remove the pan from the heat and season with salt and pepper. Add the egg yolks (one at a time) and the cheeses while continuing to whisk.
  8. Grease a pan with butter and sprinkle it with breadcrumbs. Arrange the fennel on the bottom and pour over the sauce.
  9. Bake in the oven for about twenty-five to thirty minutes, the last minutes with the grill on both above and below.
  10. Remove from the oven and leave it covered to rest for at least five minutes before serving.

Tips to ensure the success of the dish:

  • Add the slightly warm milk to the sauce. This procedure will ensure that the sauce is velvety. In the rare case where there are lumps, pass it through a sieve before adding the cheeses and the egg yolks.
  • If you like it very crunchy, you can sprinkle breadcrumbs on top as well.
  • This dish can also be made with other vegetables, such as carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, or zucchini