Caramelised Onion & Fennel Bruschetta

This is adapted from a recipe by Anna Thomas, the great American food writer. The original recipe would feed about 10 people and so the time it would take to cook down all those onions would take about an hour. The boy reckons he’s hungry enough to eat all that but we’re not putting him to the test!

1 large onion

1 head of fennel

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp butter

5 kalamata olives sliced finely

A splash of white wine

Freshly ground black pepper

4 thick slices of Ciabatta or sourdough.

Obviously you can scale this back up (Anna starts with 4-5 each of onions and fennel). I am resisting the boy’s efforts to persuade me to as this is a starter. 2 slices each! Yet again, it's pronounced broosketta not brooshetta.

Quarter the onions and slice them thickly. Trim the fennel and slice to about the same size as the onions. This is the topping so we don’t want them to melt down to nothing. Put the butter and oil in a heavy pan and sauté the onions and fennel until they are soft and light brown. The trick is to do this very slowly so they don’t crisp up and burn. As we’re doing fewer than Anna this shouldn’t take an hour but you’ll need something to listen to. I’m suggesting Maria Callas in a live recording of Cherubini’s Medea – Italian and dramatic, which is what we’re looking for. Do stir from time to time to stop anything sticking and burning.

Once the veg are nice and soft add the wine and stir until it is all absorbed. Add the Kalamata olives – these are the black wrinkly ones which have a much deeper flavour than the usual black bottled olives. Add salt and pepper, stir and check the seasoning. I always get the boy to do this as he has a really good palate. By now Medea is embracing her children for the last time.

Toast the bread – you’re meant to do this on a griddle pan but it always fills the kitchen with smoke. I use the toaster but only get it lightly golden. Anna mentions the oven or over hot coals. We don’t have hot coals in our kitchen, but we do have a toaster. Top the toast with the veg (obviously). Anna makes a really good recommendation of adding a shaving or two of parmesan. She also suggests that this would go really well with a good red wine. However, as we have opened a bottle of white to add a splash to the pan, we are not going to be doing that. But thanks anyway Anna – this is a great recipe. The boy still thinks we should have scaled it up.