Anise vs. Fennel

I added a new spice to my diet yesterday - hooray!

Technically I added 2 by accident.  So much for one at a time, but so far so good, and delicious!

The result?  Delicious meatballs!

Did you know that anise and fennel are NOT the same thing?  Anise seeds are small, and fennel seeds are bigger.  We do not eat the anise plant, we do eat the bulb of the fennel plant.  The flavors are similar, but not quite the same - I always thought I was imagining a difference until I read about it yesterday!  Anise is a little sweeter with an up front kick, while fennel seeds are a softer fuller flavor that isn't quite as in-yo-face.

I love italian sausage, and I've been dreaming about the day that my diet can accommodate a homemade sausage flavored dish.  For my first try, I set out to make up some meatballs.  I was originally aiming for an italian sausage flavor, but the result was quite different since I forgot to add a few crucial italian flavors.  But what a nice meatball I created!

I started by toasting up some anise seeds, and as I was looking at them I thought, boy, these don't smell like sausage to me.  And they look so tiny... so I looked through my spice drawer and found the jar labeled "fennel seeds", and low and behold they were bigger and looked more like the things I see in italian sausage.  So I added some of those to the pan too.  This recipe would absolutely be fine with just one of them, though I do think including so much anise seed made them a little bit sweeter than they would have been with just fennel seed.

Chicken, Garlic & Fennel Meatballs

• around a tsp of anise or fennel seeds or both
• 2 cloves of garlic
• salt and pepper (sorry, i didn't measure)
• 1/2 of a small zucchini, seeded
• around 1/2 cup of pureed butternut squash (or you could just use more zucchini)
• 1 pound of ground chicken
• around 1/4 cup of coconut or olive oil (I think I used olive)

1. Put the seeds in a pan for a couple of minutes, browning them up slightly.
2. Line a baking pan with foil or silpat.
3. Pulse the toasted seeds in a food processor or bullet type mixer until you have a powder.
4. Add everything except the chicken and chop well.
5. Place the chicken in a bowl, mix in your pureed flavors.
6. With wet hands, form 1" meatballs.  You may need to re-wet your hands several times to keep the mixture from sticking to your hands.
7. Bake at 325 for about 35 minutes.  I checked by inserting a toothpick to gauge the resistence, and then cutting in half with a knife to make sure they were cooked through.  (My oven runs hot, so they may require a slightly longer baking time.  I wouldn't recommend a higher temperature or they might dry out.)

These did NOT taste like italian sausage.  The garlic and anise flavors were very strong, but delicious.  The vegetables helped keep them moist, and I couldn't taste the chicken.  The kids LOVED them!  We basically ate them straight up, but they'd be great as a snack with dipping sauce or over pasta (I served with tortellini for the kids, but they both devoured the meatballs on their own first).

I cooked something that wasn't chicken!!

Woohoo!  I cooked something that wasn't chicken, score!

As I've mentioned before, I have a myriad of food rules at the moment, no gluten for myself, and no milk, eggs, peanuts or soy for the baby (via breastmilk).  I added goat milk into my diet a few weeks ago (apparently it's usually cow's milk that causes trouble), and so far so good.  And SO GOOD!!  It's amazing what you can find in a grocery store these days!  So far, I have found:

• Goat milk
• Goat milk yogurt
• Goat milk drinkable yogurt (milk/yogurt hybrid)
• Goat cheese (normal)
• Goat milk cheddar
• Goat milk brie
• Goat milk hard cheese
• Goat milk feta
• Goat milk BUTTER!!!

After months of no dairy, these finds have opened up a whole new world!!  Obviously some of these taste more like substitutions than the real thing (for example, goat milk cheddar doesn't really taste like cheddar), but some of them are DELICIOUS!!  For example, one of the yogurts I tried this past week was one of the best yogurts I've ever had, ever.  It was only flavored with honey, and it was light and creamy and delightful!

Another interesting find that I'm very happy with is goat milk butter.  It's expensive, and it doesn't quite taste like butter, but so far it's been great for cooking dinner!  I've used it to cook a few different  things, and it lends a buttery flavor I've been missing for so long, while at the same time infusing the meal with a slight goat cheesy flavor.  So in other words, if it's a meal that would taste good with goat cheese added, you get a two-for-one!  Here are two easy meals I threw together earlier this week -  I realize they're both seafood - but butter and cheese go well with these mild fish/shellfish!  And they were both delicious!

Liz's Scampi-ish Shrimp with Goat butter
Ingredients

• Goat butter (1 or 2 tbsp)
• White Wine (1/2 cup?)
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Fresh Parsley, chopped (1 tbsp?)
• Fresh Dill, chopped (1/2 tbsp?)
• 1 carrot, shredded or grated
• 1 medium zuchinni, shredded or grated
• garlic, minced, 1 or 2 tbsp (i used 4 smallish cloves)
• Shrimp - I used about 1/2 pound (of frozen pre-cleaned split shell, I removed shells)
• Olive oil
• Salt and Pepper
• Rice or pasta (optional)

Instructions

1. Mince/grate/chop/shell your goods, and open your wine.
2. Add butter and garlic to large pan over medium heat, and have a swig of wine.
3. When garlic is fragrant, add carrots and cook over medium/low heat until carrots begin to soften.
4. Add wine if things seem dry. 
5. Add zuchinni, shrimp, and remainder of wine.
6. When shrimp are beginning to turn pink, add parsley, dill, lemon juice, and zest, and a turn or two of olive oil, stirring well to combine.
7. When shrimp are curled, pink, and opaque, season with salt an pepper to taste, and serve.

We ate this over white rice, and it was delicious.  However, the shredded vegetables are somewhat noodle-like, and it would be ok without any rice or pasta for anyone eating low-carb. There weren't many leftovers, but the small amount remaining was delicious the next day too!


Here's an even easier recipe, that highlights more of the goat butter flavor:

Liz's Baked Cod with Goat Butter
Ingredients

• Juice of one lemon
• 2 tbsp goat butter
• 3/4 lbs of fresh cod 
• fresh herbs (optional) such as parsley and dill
• salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Melt the butter, and combine with the lemon juice.
2. Place the cod filet(s) in a glass baking dish, and pour half of the butter/lemon mixture over the fish.  Flip the fish over, and pour the remaining butter/lemon over the fish.
3. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish.  Fish is done when it comes apart easily with a fork, and is opaque.  Garnish with chopped fresh herbs, and serve.  We had this with sauteed asparagus and beet greens, over white rice.