I found this recipe in one of Ottolenghi’s cookbooks (Plenty more) and although it is a long list of ingredients and preparation instructions, I decided to give it a go. It was definitely well worth the effort and the amount of work was not at all to bad or of-putting. In fact I had enough time left to prepare roasted sweet potatoes with purple bean herbs and sticky tomatoes to go with this lovely dish.

If you want to try the fennel (I strongly recommend you to!) you will have to check his website http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk or his book Plenty more.

The sticky tomatoes are really very simple to prepare: take 500 grams of cherry tomatoes and cut them in half. Mix them with 2 spoons of honey, minced garlic 2-3 gloves, 3 spoons of olive oil, teaspoon of chili flakes (optional), sea salt and black pepper. Place them on a baking tray covered with baking paper. Put them in the oven at 190℃ for 30 minutes . You can use them as a side dish, in a salad, on top of your rice, on toast and whatever else you can think of!

The sweet potato needs no more explaining I think, cut them the way you prefer, season them with sea salt, black pepper olive oil and than add any kind of herb like thyme, rosemary, chives, I used purple bean herb from my own veggie patch this time. Roast them in the oven for about 25 minutes until tender (200℃).

Together it formed a lovely meal, the flavors of the three “items” combined perfectly!