If you’ve never cooked with fennel before then this slightly-anise flavor may be just the thing to liven up your meals. Every time I’ve made something with fennel I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how the gentle flavor adds just the right amount of complexity to my dishes. These fennel oven potatoes take minimal effort, but turn out so tasty that you’ll want to make them again and again.

This simple dish is the epitome of easy home cooking. All you have to do to toss together sliced potatoes, a sliced fennel bulb, some red onion, and some herbs and olive oil. Then bake for 40 minutes while you attend to the other dishes of the meal.

These potatoes go well with chicken, fish, beef, or pork because the flavor of herbed potatoes truly will go with just about anything you can think of. For times when I’m not having meat or for leftovers, I like to sprinkle some parmesan on top of these potatoes for a hearty meal all by itself.

To garnish you can add the fronds of the fennel which look like dill but have a different kind of flavor. There’s also some lemon juice for the top as well, but you can serve these potatoes with a lemon wedge instead for a nicer presentation.

All in all this is just one more way to make everyone’s favorite starch. But, it’s nice to change it up now and again with new recipes that add just that little bit more flavor into our lives.