Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Snap the feathery green fronds from 3 heads of fennel and set aside for later. If your fennel doesn’t have any, no matter. Slice the fennel in half from stem to root, then cut each half into 3 or 4 segments. Put them into a roasting tin or baking dish, trickle over 3 good tbsp of olive oil then season lightly with salt. Bake for 30 minutes or so, turning them over once or twice so the cut edges colour to pale, toasted gold.
Scatter 3 tbsp of flaked almonds in a dry, shallow pan and place over a moderate heat. Let the almonds brown lightly, taking care not to let them darken beyond a pale gold, lest they turn bitter. Remove from the heat and set aside with the fennel fronds.
Using a very sharp knife, slice the peel from 2 blood oranges, then cut the orange into thin slices and set aside, reserving any juice you can. Halve and squeeze a third small blood orange.
Remove the roasting tin from the oven once the fennel is golden and pour in 100ml of dry or medium sherry, then return the tin to the oven for 7 minutes. Pour in the blood orange juice and season with a little black pepper.
Lift the roast fennel on to a serving dish, scatter with the slices of blood orange and their juice, the toasted flaked almonds and the fennel fronds.
Trickle over the juices from the tin. Serves 4 as part of a light supper
Ricotta cheese, lightly seasoned with olive oil and fennel seeds, can be spooned over the fennel as you serve.
This is a refreshing side dish to sit aside cold cuts from the Sunday roast or folds of air-dried ham.
Couscous, lightly steamed and flecked with lots of chopped parsley and mint, can be toasted with the roast fennel and its juices.
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