To try and decide each week where and what to eat in and around the basin can be a challenge – there are so many amazing choices. In this feature, we’ll dive into dishes that will surely satisfy those hunger pangs and leave you wondering where to go next.

I’m not certain just how popular fennel is. It’s highly popular in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking, but here in the U.S., I think it’s probably a little lesser-known vegetable and extremely underutilized. But, if it keeps getting the treatment like it does in this week’s feature, it won’t stay that way for long.

Fennel is a perennial herb from the carrot family and while it does carry an anise flavor, I’m not going to go as far as to say it tastes like black licorice – mainly because I’m not a black licorice fan, but I do like fennel. It also has a wonderful texture that is crisp and juicy.

For this dish, baby fennel is braised in a French Provençal style method where it first gets seared in a combination of triple filtered beef tallow and butter. Once those nice sear marks start to take hold, the pan is deglazed with white wine and added to the fray is a combination of ingredients starring blood orange and burnt orange. It’s then braised until the liquid cooks down to a syrupy consistency and finished off with a cold-pressed raw olive oil, fresh herbs, smoked salt, and fennel pollen.

Parents, if there ever was a way to get your kids to eat veggies, this is the way. It’s likely the best preparation of fennel I’ve had to-date. It balances savory and sweet so well it could have a yoga class named after it. The charred edges give it real depth of flavor and add in a slightly different texture than you get when you get to the core of the vegetable.

I could easily hunch down over this and make a meal out of it but do yourself a favor and get it as a side dish and explore the rest of the menu. I think you’ll find some other fun choices equally as impressive.

Paxton’s Settlement is located at 120 Country Club Dr #24 in Incline Village. For menu and more information visit them online at paxtonssettlement.com or reach them via phone at 775-298-7900.