A few of us here in the newsroom belong to Community Supported Agriculture subscription services. This means we get regular deliveries of CSA bags containing local produce.

We don’t get to pick what’s in our bags; instead, we get a mixture of what’s fresh and plentiful from local farms — items as ordinary as carrots or as extraordinary as kohlrabi.

My favorite week is fennel week because everybody gives me theirs. It’s a phenomenon I call Fear of Fennel — a distaste for fennel’s strong licorice flavor combined with intimidation. Fennel’s tough, fibrous exterior and excess of fronds can make it difficult to approach.

It’s good to get to know fennel, though, if you’re even mildly adventurous, as it becomes more widely available as a grown-in-Hawaii product.

The basics: Fennel is a white bulb from which emerge several thick stems and fluffy dark green fronds. It is common in Mediterranean cooking; not so much in Asian. It’s high in fiber, vitamin C and other positive nutritional elements, but many people are immediately put off by its strong anise, or licorice, flavor.

Keep in mind, though, that anise is a key flavor in Vietnamese pho, which is not difficult to embrace, so why not this?

When young and tender, fennel is often thinly shaved and eaten raw in salads. It can also be grilled, roasted or sauteed, and the tougher stems can be tossed into a soup stock.

In general, the more you cook it, the more you tame the licorice taste, so for those averse to that flavor, I suggest this fennel gratin.

Basically you simmer thin slices in water until they are soft and the flavor is quite mild. Intriguing rather than overpowering. This only takes about five minutes. Then you bake it, layered with breadcrumbs and cheese. In the end you get something cheesy and oozy, with a crunchy top and all that fennel goodness on the bottom.

Think of it as something like potatoes au gratin, but with the starchy potato layer replaced by a no-carb alternative.

A fennel gratin can be quite complicated, some made with a roux of flour and butter, others with additives like wine and lemon zest. Once you get the hang of the basic formula you can get all fancy if you want, but I like the simplicity here.

I’ve added furikake and panko to show how well fennel can play with Asian ingredients, but to stick with fennel’s Mediterranean roots, you can go with more traditional herb-flavored breadcrumbs.

FURIKAKE FENNEL GRATIN

By Betty Shimabukuro

• 1-pound fennel bulb
• 1/2 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 2 tablespoons furikake
• 1/2 cup sliced green onions (about 3 stalks)
• 1-1/2 cups mozzarella cheese

Cut off fennel fronds. Slice bulb into quarters and cut away the hard core at the root end. Cut bulb lengthwise into thin slices.

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Bring pot of water to boil; add fennel and cook 5 minutes, until soft. Drain well.

Combine panko and furikake.

Place fennel in small casserole dish or pie pan. Mix in half the panko/furikake mixture and green onions. Top with cheese and remaining panko/furikake mixture. Bake 15-20 minutes, until cheese is melted and browned. Serves 4 as a side dish.

Approximate nutritional information, per serving: 200 calories, 9 g total fat, 5 g saturated fat, 25 mg cholesterol, 350 mg sodium, 18 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 5 g sugar, 14 g protein.

Write By Request, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu 96813; or email requests to bshimabukuro@staradvertiser.com.