Fish fillet on sweet and spicy apple and fennel vegetables with red onion topping and walnuts

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 250 g fish fillet(s), e.g. Alaska pollock
• 2 tbsp flour
• 2 tsp butter for frying
• e.g. salt and pepper
• 1 m.-large fennel
• 1 apple, green and sweet, ideally Golden Delicious
• 3 garlic cloves
• 250 ml vegetable stock
• 40 g butter
• 150 g cream cheese
• 2 tsp mustard, medium hot
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp, heaped thyme, dried
• 1 tsp anise powder
• ¼ tsp chili flakes
• e.g. salt and pepper
• 1 m.-large onion(s), red
• 1 tbsp parsley, dried or fresh
• 2 tsp sumac
• ½ tsp sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tsp olive oil
• some walnut kernels

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 50 minutes

Wash the fennel and trim the green stems close to the bulb. Then, remove the tough root end and halve the bulb. Remove the triangular core in the middle of the halves and then slice the fennel into thin strips. Peel and core the apple and dice the apple. Peel the garlic and finely chop or press it. Peel the red onion and slice it using a vegetable slicer on the finest setting. Heat the butter in a pan until foamy, then sauté the garlic, apple pieces, and honey over medium heat for about 4-5 minutes until caramelized. Then add the fennel and cook for another 3-4 minutes, until it has lost some of its volume. Pour in the stock, add the thyme, and chili flakes. Cover and cook over medium heat for about 15-20 minutes, until the fennel has reached the desired consistency. In the meantime, prepare the onion topping. In a bowl, make a dressing from the olive oil, sumac, and sugar, then add the finely sliced ​​onions and parsley. Mix everything well and season with salt. Wash and dry the fish fillets, cut them into bite-sized pieces, season with salt and pepper, and coat them in flour shortly before the fennel is finished cooking. Heat the butter in a pan and then briefly fry the fish fillets on both sides. When the fennel is cooked, add the cream cheese, mustard, and ground aniseed to the vegetables. Mix everything until the cheese has melted and the sauce is creamy. Bring the vegetables back to a simmer and season with salt and pepper. When serving, place the fish on top of the vegetables and spoon the onion topping over it. Garnish with chopped walnuts. Notes: The cooking time for fennel depends on how long it’s been stored. The longer the bulb is stored, the more woody it becomes, the brownish spots it develops, and then it takes much longer to soften. Fennel is best cooked when the bulb is still a beautiful white. Ideally, the sweet and spicy fennel is eaten with the rather sour onions to bring all the flavors together. The walnuts add a touch of bitterness to the dish. Red sumac, or sumac fruit, can be found inexpensively in any Turkish supermarket. If you don’t like the fennel flavor, omit the aniseed at the end. The serving sizes are calculated without any other carbohydrates.