All good things must come to an end, even fennel pollen week. I had way too much experimenting with this special ingredient and we’ve been reaping the benefits all week long. Plus, we saved the best for last. We’re looking at a warm weekend that I plan on filling with lots of outdoor activity and this semifreddo.

Like the name suggests, semifreddo is a semi-frozen treat that gets its decadent and luxurious texture from heavy cream and raw egg yolks. I used to call this the ‘lazy-girl gelato’ but I find myself making this even when I have plenty of time and energy to make gelato or ice cream instead. It’s just that good. Here, honey and fennel pollen combine for that transcendent little pairing discovery that we just can’t get enough of.

This is my favorite recipe of the week and I can’t wait for you to try it for yourself. I hope fennel pollen has found its way into your hearts and pantries this week like it has ours. Now, how about that weekend?!

Fennel Pollen Honey Semifreddo
Serves 10

• 1 egg
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup honey, plus more for drizzling
• 1 tablespoon fennel pollen
• 1 ½ cups cream

Line a medium loaf tin with plastic film. Beat the fennel pollen, egg, and egg yolks with the honey in a bowl until pale and thick. Whip the cream until it has thickened and doubled in volume. Fold in the egg and honey mixture and pour into the loaf tin. Freeze at least 2 hours or overnight.

When ready to serve, invert the semifreddo onto a serving platter and drizzle with extra honey and another sprinkle of fennel pollen. Serve slices immediately.

Thursday dinners are always a simple meal for me. I’ve gotten over the hump of Wednesday, but it’s not quite the weekend. I love cooking for friends any chance I get, but whether it’s dinner for one or dinner for five, Thursdays are all about simplicity. I’m limited on time for dinner prep since I’ve spent the day here at Caputo’s and I’m a little pooped from the rest of the week, I’m always reaching for my quick, but still delicious recipes.

Potatoes are just the kind of blank canvas I need for a quick starch side dish. Let’s be honest, there’s likely a whole chicken roasting in the oven and a salad waiting to be dressed and tossed. I’m a woman of simple pleasures during the week, but it wouldn’t be a meal at my house without some kind of starch. Enter the potatoes. An easy roast and a few quick toppings later, I have a complete meal.

Our fennel pollen feast this last weekend was my final chance to make sure our recipes were in check before sharing them with you. I love being part of these little meals with my work family. It’s great to see everyone sans aprons and enjoy their company. Tricia, our lovely manager of the Holladay location, was a huge help with this meal. She took over the potatoes like the pro she is and those heavenly nuggets of golden roasted potatoes sung with dollops of chevre and a sprinkling of fennel pollen. Simple, easy, and lots of flavor. It’s exactly how I like my potatoes. Well-seasoned potatoes, tangy chevre, and sweet, aromatic fennel pollen? Sign me up.

My first recommendation to customers buying fennel pollen for the first time is the same theme as this dish: keep it simple. Make something you love that’s incredibly simple and finish it with a dusting of fennel pollen. Tomato sauces, roasted vegetables, simple baked goods, and lightly seasoned roasted meats are all great ways to begin familiarizing yourself with fennel pollen. This is a great side to poultry dishes as they won’t overpower a milder protein, but I also love these served alongside anything grilled. I’m looking forward to the warm weekend and I think these will be part of at least one meal in the next few days.

Fennel Pollen & Chevre Roasted Potatoes
Serves 4-6

• 1 1/2 pounds waxy potatoes, cut into large cubes
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 ounces chevre
• 2 teaspoons fennel pollen

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Toss cubed potatoes with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Spread in one layer across a baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes. Remove baking sheet and toss potatoes once more. Bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until tender and golden brown.

Remove potatoes to a serving bowl. Crumble chevre over potatoes and fold into potatoes. Finish potatoes with fennel pollen and any additional salt if needed. Serve immediately.

I couldn’t give you a week of fennel pollen without throwing some sweet treats at you, now could I? Another reason I love fennel pollen is its ability to transcend the lines that often divide sweet and savory ingredients. It’s often easy to place an ingredient beneath the sweet or savory banner, but that is not the case here. If someone asked me to choose using fennel pollen in either sweet or savory applications for the rest of my life, I’d be hard-pressed to choose.

This cake is the stuff of legend as far as I’m concerned. It’s not too sweet and gets a hint of tanginess from the buttermilk that is only amplified by the vanilla creme fraiche dolloped on top. I’ve served this for birthdays, team gatherings, dinner parties, and pity parties. The fennel pollen takes this to a place where warm cake and bright, summery fennel flavors meet and have a dance party on your taste buds. Naturally, you’ll want to throw some poached pears or berries on the side of this, which I fully support. This cake- and the creme fraiche- loves fruit. Try it with whatever is in season, or keep it simple with the creme fraiche. Either way, your life needs a little sweetness and you deserve an extra dose of fennel pollen. Enjoy!

Fennel Pollen Buttermilk Cake
Serves 12

• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fennel pollen
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup crème fraîche
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
• 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter a 9-inch cake pan and line it with a 9-inch round of parchment paper. Butter the parchment paper.

In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer, beat the butter with both sugars at medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the yolks, one at a time, beating well between additions. Beat in fennel pollen. At low speed, alternately beat in the flour mixture and the buttermilk until almost blended. With a rubber spatula, finish folding the mixture together just until smooth. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 35 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack to cool completely.

In a small bowl, combine the crème fraîche, vanilla seeds and confectioners’ sugar.

Unmold the cake onto a plate, top with vanilla crème fraiche, and serve.

The other day I had fresh bread made by an incredibly talented friend, Ryan Moore of Moore Bread. He researched and developed yeast strains and milled his own flour. The bread was really quite shocking.

I don’t know if it was that I had never had such good bread before or that it had been so long that I had forgotten. It was so far above and beyond anything that is currently commercially available in Utah including all the fancy artisan bakers.

It is a shame to see talented bakers start a bakery then as they grow distribution far beyond that of old world bakers, they slowly start to make compromises that have caused us foodies to lessen our expectations for the whole bread category.

We all deserve regular access to this transcendent bread made by my friend. Ryan Moore is the only one positioned to give it to us. Not only is he going to use the money to buy a mill so he can source his grain directly from farmers and mill right before baking, but he has the marketing prowess to maintain the branding and command the price point to earn a decent living from baking small amounts of bread.

I have gone over his business plans with him. Here is a rare guy that does not want to leverage his quality into becoming wealthy. Ryan is a guy that just wants to make a good living pushing the quality of this craft back to old world scale.

I selfishly want bread like that in my life.