This inventive but effective technique could be adapted to other vegetables such as celery, celeriac, carrots or beetroot.

Pare the outer fibres from a fennel bulb. Shave the fennel into wafer-thin strips with a Japanese mandolin. Squeeze lemon juice and a little caster sugar over them. Add some scrapings from a vanilla pod. Mix well.

Put the fennel in the deep freeze. When it defrosts, the texture softens and absorbs the flavours. Keep chilled.

Sat Bains combines the fennel as a topping with a lemon grass panna cotta. It would also work, using a reduced amount of sugar, with grilled oily or pickled fish.

Photo © Sam Bailey