Caramelized Fennel with Goat Cheese

Sweet fennel is made even sweeter with a fennel seed caramel and is garnished with dill, garlic and lemon zest and finished with tangy goat cheese.

The fennel slices are first seared on a high heat and set aside. A caramel with sugar and fennel seed is then made in the same pan and the fennel returned to the pan to caramelize. My pan wasn't large enough to accommodate all of the fennel so I seared and caramelized it in 2 batches.

The texture of the fennel was wonderful - a state somewhere between raw and cooked - it was firm and almost juicy. And the bites that included the fennel seed caramel were delicious....I just wish there had been more of them. The dish was missing something for me....perhaps a squeeze of lemon juice would have helped to liven it up.

I would like to make it again as it was very quick and easy, perhaps making more caramel next time (there really wasn't enough to glaze all of the fennel) and adding lemon juice.