INGREDIENTS:
3 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, finely sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 bulbs fennel, sliced
1 tsp fennel seeds, toasted
1/2 tsp chili flakes
250ml white wine
600g fresh tomatoes, chopped roughly or 2 x 440g tins chopped tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
250ml tomato passata
Salt & Pepper to taste
SERVES 6-8
INSTRUCTIONS:
Heat the oil in a large heavy based saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onions and sauté for five to eight minutes until softened. Add the garlic and sliced fennel to the pan and stir to coat in the oil.
Lower the heat and leave to cook for a further ten minutes to soften the fennel.
Grind the toasted fennel seeds and chili flakes together coarsely. Add to spice mix to the onion and fennel. Stir and leave to cook for a further two minutes to toast the spices.
Increase the heat and pour over the wine. Leave to simmer and bubble for two minutes before adding the tomatoes, sugar and passata. Once the mixture begins to bubble lower the heat and leave to simmer for fifteen to twenty minutes until the sauce has reduced.
Season with salt and pepper to taste. Scatter with the reserved chopped fennel tops before serving.
