This flavoursome quick and Easy Vegetable Casserole with Roasted Fennel & Beans is a delicious, satisfying vegetarian family dinner idea.
If you’ve ever tasted roasted fennel you will know that it’s quite different from raw. When it cooks it loses its crunch and aniseed notes and instead becomes sweet and mellow and soft. Like in this flavourful Easy Vegetable Casserole with Roasted Fennel & Beans. This vegetarian casserole is a combination of different textures and contrasting flavours, which together create a rich, satisfying, delicious dish.
To make the sauce I used a combination of sweet and tangy vegetables, as well as a splash of wine and sun dried tomatoes for a richer flavour. I added beans for bulk and protein. The sweet roasted fennel is absolutely delicious with the rich vegetable bean sauce and the tangy feta.
How to make easy vegetable casserole
There are 3 separate parts to this recipe, 2 of which can be cooked simultaneously so the recipe doesn’t take very long to make.
Once the fennel is in the oven (it only needs to be sliced, seasoned and drizzled with a bit of olive oil) you can get started on the vegetable sauce. By the time the fennel is ready the sauce should be more or less finished.
Then all you have to do is combine the two and scatter some crumbled feta over the top. (And drizzle with more olive oil if you like – highly recommended!). The dish then goes back in the oven for only 8 more minutes.
In about 45 minutes you’ll have a rich, hearty, healthy vegetarian dish that tastes like it’s been cooking for 4 slow hours!
More fennel recipes
If you are a fan of fennel try my Skinny Fennel Bean Tomato Pasta Bake! You might also like this aromatic, vibrant Beetroot Fennel Soup with Kale.
Serving suggestions
This easy vegetable casserole can be served with pasta, rice, quinoa or potatoes or simply a slice of bread and a drizzle of olive oil (olive oil tastes fantastic in this recipe!). Ideal for lunch or dinner, equally suitable as a family meal or a dinner party idea. Tastes great the next day too!
*NOTE: I used haricot beans but you can use another bean variety if you prefer. I chose haricot simply because I wanted small beans that wouldn’t dominate the sauce.
- 2 fennel bulbs
- 100 g feta
- 1 tin tomatoes
- 1 cup haricot beans tinned or soaked overnight and cooked
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1 red onion finely chopped
- 1 large carrot diced
- 1 bell red pepper roughly chopped
- 4 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for drizzling
- 4 tablespoons white wine
- 1-2 bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- Salt and pepper to taste
-
Preheat the oven to 400 F/ 200 C/ gas mark 6. Line a baking sheet with non-stick paper. Cut the fennels lengthways into quarters and place on the baking sheet. Season, drizzle with olive oil and pop in the oven for 35 minutes (remove from the oven and raise the temperature to 450 F/ 230 C/ gas mark 8).
-
While the fennels are roasting prepare the sauce. In a medium saucepan heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the onion, garlic and bay leaf and cook for 2 minutes over a medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add the wine, carrot, pepper, beans and tomatoes and stir well.
-
Add the sun-dried tomatoes, oregano , season to taste, stir, cover and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes.
-
Transfer the sauce to a baking dish, place the fennel on top, scatter feta pieces, drizzle with a little more oil and place in the hot oven (remember it's at gas mark 8) for about 8 minutes. Garnish with freshly chopped chives (optional) and serve.
To save time prepare the sauce while the fennel is in the oven.
Pin Easy Vegetable Casserole with Roasted Fennel & Beans!
KEEP IN TOUCH!
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for regular recipe update! Or you could subscribe to this blog and receive all my latest recipes right into your mailbox!
RECIPE LINK PARTIES
I am sharing this healthy vegetable casserole fennel with Meat Free Mondays, CookBlogShare (co-hosted by Hijacked by Twins and Easy Peasy Foodie). Also sharing with What’s Cookin’ Wednesday, Fiesta Friday, Saucy Saturdays and Recipe of the Week.
What a unique and lovely side dish! I could eat this every day!
Thank you! Glad you like it:) and thanks for stopping by!
Ooh wow Monika, this sounds (and looks) so delicious Monika. I have to admit that I’ve never tried fennel before (having had a ‘memorable’ evening with Pernod when I was just 20!) The thought of anniseed flavours still put me off, but as you’ve explained that the flavour changes when the fennel is roasted I feel the need to try your recipe. Pinning.
Angela x
Thanks Angela! Don’t worry, the aniseed flavour in roasted fennel is very mild, nowhere near Pernod! Especially if you have it with other ingredients, as in this recipe.
Monika, this looks gorgeous!! I’m pinning for later! 🙂
Mollie
Thanks Mollie! I don’t cook with fennel much and had no idea roasted fennel was so delicious and easy to prepare – it’s the perfect everyday healthy ingredient:)
Oooh I love fennel but do not have it enough! This needs to change! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Thank you! Always happy to share with CookBlogShare:)
this looks and sounds delicious! Always looking for different fennel recipes as its one veg the Peachicks are not that entirely convinced by!
Thanks! My boys loved it prepared like this, I think the addition of feta helped:)
This sounds absolutely delicious Monika – in fact my mouth is actually watering at the thought of it! I haven’t tried roasting fennel yet and that is definitely going on the to do list!
Thank you Mandy! Roasted fennel is absolutely delicious, in any recipe, definitely worth trying:)
How delicious Monika, I love roasted fennel. I like how you’ve added feta with the bean and vegetable sauce, my kind of food x
Thanks Sarah! Glad you like it! I think fennel goes so fantastically well with feta:)
This is completely gorgeous! I love roasted fennel and feta is one of my favorite things. I bet they’re amazing together and will have to try this combo!
Thank you! Fennel and feta do go together really well. Thanks for stopping by:)