This whole roasted fennel recipe with cherries and pistachios and creamy polenta mash is from Sarah Philpott’s latest cookbook: The Seasonal Vegan.

I love roasted fennel and this recipe is just so delicious. Such a light yet comforting meal to be enjoyed with a glass of red wine. You can prepare the polenta and red cherry sauce while the fennel is roasting in the oven.
The Seasonal Vegan offers around 70 delicious plant-based recipes organised seasonally in four chapters with some gorgeous pictures from Manon Houston.
This brand new cookbook aims to “debunk the myth that eating seasonally is expensive, or solely for the middle classes, and lays out the environmental and nutritional benefits of doing so”.
Making of the of British seasonal ingredients alongside a few imported one such as citruses, banana, pineapple … Sarah Philpott has created some simple and delicious recipes such as this whole roasted fennel dish. Best of all most of the ingredients should already be available straight from your kitchen cupboards.
When I go food shopping, my first stop is always the fruit and vegetable aisle, where I watch the colours change from red to orange then green and back again across the course of the year. Wouldn’t it be dull if we ate the same all year round? – Sarah Philpott
With vegetables taking centre stage, The Seasonal Vegan is a celebration of food as it should be: simple, delicious, vibrant, nutritious and in complete harmony with the world around us.
The Seasonal Vegan by Sarah Philpott is published by Seren Books and available from their website here.

Whole Roasted Fennel with Cherries and Pistachios and Creamy Polenta Mash [vegan] by Sarah Philpott
Equipment
Disclaimer: the equipment list above includes affiliate links to products I use and like.
Ingredients
- 4 fennel bulbs
- 4 Tbsp olive oil
- the juice of 1 orange
- salt and pepper
- 50 g pistachios shelled and roughly chopped
FOR THE CHERRY SAUCE:
- 300 g cherries stones removed
- 50 ml water
- 50 g white sugar
- 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- a pinch of salt
FOR THE POLENTA MASH:
- 150 g quick-cook polenta
- 600 ml boiling water
- 150 ml oat milk
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- the juice of 1 lemon
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 150C. Put the fennel bulbs in a large roasting dish and drizzle over the olive oil and orange juice and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 40-45 minutes or until golden and tender.
- While the fennel is cooking, make the cherry sauce. Roughly chop the cherries, discard the stones, and put in a saucepan with the sugar, water, balsamic vinegar and salt, and heat over a low temperature for about 5 minutes.
- Quickly make the polenta. Pour the boiling water into a large pan, add a good pinch of salt and heat over a medium temperature. Slowly pour in the polenta, then stir constantly for 4-5 minutes – be careful as it can bubble almost volcanically. When the polenta is firm and begins to come away from the sides of the pan, turn off the heat. Add the oat milk, olive oil, maple syrup and lemon juice and season, then stir well.
- Take four plates and spoon a dollop of polenta mash onto each of them. Take the fennel out of the oven and carefully cut in half lengthways. Layer the two halves on top of the mash on each plate and scatter over the pistachios. Divide the cherry sauce between the four plates and serve.
Nutrition
Find this recipe online:
Whole Roasted Fennel with Cherries and Pistachios and Creamy Polenta Mash [vegan] by Sarah Philpott
https://theflexitarian.co.uk/recipe-items/whole-roasted-fennel-with-cherries-and-pistachios-and-creamy-polenta-mash-vegan-by-sarah-philpott/
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