<< Back What do you do with fennel? So many people I’ve cooked for have said they don’t like fennel that I’ve stopped asking. Now I just serve it and they typically find that they like it. I find the flavor of it goes nicely with seafood. So I might serve a crab cake with -- or steamed shrimp on top of -- a salad of mesclun mix and arugula mixed with very thinly sliced fennel bulb tossed with balsamic vinegar, olive oil and Dijon mustard – capers and dill, too, if you have them. “I find that fennel also works well in many foods in place of celery, especially in Mediterraean-type foods, but also in chicken soup and the like. It adds an interesting undercurrent of taste in many dishes, and when raw, has all the crunch of celery, without being stringy. Fennel is excellent.”—Linda Tobin