Roasted Carrot and Fennel Soup with Fennel Seed Oil

This is our second year doing a CSA (community supported agriculture) from Sleepy Root Farm.  They deliver right to Jason's work, so it is really convenient.  One of the greatest things about a CSA is that it gets you to try different types of produce than you normally would and it forces you to be creative in finding ways to use certain items.  For the last few weeks, I wasn't sure how to use my fennel bulbs.  I've never really cooked with fennel and the raw smell of it was a little off-putting.  It smelled super strongly of anise.  So yesterday I did some research online and found a semi-easy recipe for soup (from rouxbe.com).  I had most of the ingredients at home already so I only needed to buy some stock (I really need to start making my own).  This soup turned out wonderful and I plan to use my yearly fennel for it in the future.  I doubled the recipe below (because I had to use all my fennel!) and froze 3 quarts of soup and ate about 1 quart.  So a single recipe will probably make about 2 quarts of soup and serve 6 people.

iPhone Photo by Jason Hedlund

Ingredients:
2 medium fennel bulbs, sliced
1 lb carrots, diced
1 large onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp brown sugar
salt and pepper

2 Tbsp butter
5 cups chicken stock (I used broth from Target)
1 bay leaf
1 sprig of thyme (I used dried since I ran out of fresh)
salt and pepper

1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp olive oil

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 450F.
2.  In a sheet pan, add the vegetables and the rest of the ingredients and coat with oil.  Then put them in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until slightly caramelized.
3.  In a heavy pot, melt the butter, then add the roasted vegetables, chicken stock, bat leaf, thyme and bring to simmer.
4.  Let simmer for about 20 minutes then blend to smooth in a blender or using an emulsion blender in the pot.  Adjust seasoning of soup with salt and pepper to taste.
5.  Toast fennel seeds until they become fragrant, in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle grind the fennel seeds and add them to the oil.
6.  Drizzle oil over the soup and serve.  Enjoy!