When I picked up my Bountiful Basket from my friend’s house last weekend, she gave me her fennel. I’ve seen it before, and I think even had gotten in a basket before, but didn’t get a chance to figure out what to do with it until it had gone bad. I went in search of a recipe and found this Fennel Carrot Soup, plus I had carrots, sweet potatoes, and apples already on hand to make this. The recipe only calls for fennel seeds, but I added in the fennel bulb I had as well as the seeds. If you have never used a fennel bulb, there is an informative video here on different ways to cut the bulb. I chose to dice mine.
Then, I had found an interesting biscuit recipe on Pinterest called 7-Up biscuits. I had attempted to make them a couple of nights ago, but didn’t pay attention to the amount of 7-Up to add and put in too much. Tonight went much better.
Overall, the soup was ok and the biscuits were excellent. I’m not sure what it was about the soup, it was good, but not fantastic. I think it was too much carrot or maybe too bland. I chose not to use curry as called for in the original recipe, putting in garlic instead. Or maybe I was tasting more fennel and didn’t like it. I also think I might have added too much lemon juice. I don’t know. The biscuits were very good, very light and fluffy. Mine didn’t turn out as pretty as the Pinterest picture, but the taste was great.
So, here is how I made the soup and the biscuits.
Fennel Carrot Soup
What you need:
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
1/2 teaspoon garlic
1 tablespoon butter
1 fennel bulb, diced
1 pound carrots, sliced
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 medium apple, peeled and cubed
5 1/2 cups water
5 chicken bouillon cubes
2 tablespoons uncooked long grain rice
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
How to make it:
In a large saucepan, saute fennel seed and garlic in butter for 2-3 minutes or until lightly toasted. Add the fennel bulb, carrots, sweet potato and apple; saute for 5 minutes. Stir in the water, bouillon cubes, rice, and bay leaf; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until rice and vegetables are very tender.
Remove from the heat and cool slightly. Discard bay leaf. In a blender or food processor, process soup in batches until pureed. Return to saucepan. Stir in the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes or until heated through.
7-Up Biscuits
What you need:
2 cups Bisquick
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup 7-up
1/4 cup melted butter
How to make it:
Preheat oven to 450 F.
Cut sour cream into biscuit mix. If you have never cut dough, there is a handy tool called a pastry cutter or dough blender. I do not have one of these, so I did the best I could with a fork.
Add 7-Up and mix in well. You may find the dough to be sticky, if so, add more Bisquick or flour (about 1 tablespoon) until you can better work with it. Don’t worry, even if the dough is sticky, they still bake fine.
Sprinkle flour on board or table and pat dough out to the shape of an 8×8 pan. Cut dough into 9 squares. Pour all but 1 Tbsp of the melted butter in an 8×8 pan. Place cut biscuits in pan.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Brush the remaining 1 Tbsp of butter over hot biscuits.
Tags: carrot, dinner, fennel, Pinterest inspired, side dish
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