HUNGRY GERALD

This is a glorious vegetable. Alas, fennel is underused in American kitchens. Happily, it is a staple in BSK’s cuisine. BSK uses it in BSK’s chopped salad of white turnips, cherry tomatoes, chopped onions, radishes, scallions, parsley, basil, etc., in a sprightly mustard vinaigrette. Decorates it with chopped fennel fronds. BSK braises fennel in chicken broth, olive oil and butter until deliciously smooth and soft. It is HG’s favorite accompaniment for salmon cooked medium rare. HG was introduced to this delightful combo by long rime pal Bob J., the novelist, poet and former luminary in the field of creative advertising. The meal (many years ago) was cooked in the kichen of Bob’s modernist house (designed by famous architect Erno Goldfinger) in the Hampstead section of London (Bob now lives on a Montana ranch). A non sequitur: Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond had a quarrel with Erno Goldfinger, and much to Erno’s chagrin, named a greedy bad guy in one of his novels “Goldfinger” (remember the “Goldfinger” song that introduced the movie version?). Another non sequitur: The Italian word for fennel is “finocchio”. It is also a derogatory term for a gay man. In the classic “Godfather One” movie, Vito Corleone (the Godfather) berates the actor/singer Johnny Fontane (loosely based on Frank Sinatra): “Have you become a Hollywood finocchio?”