Fennel Pasta

I had never cooked with fennel before and had always wanted to. I discovered a super simple recipe and decided to try it. I thoroughly enjoyed the fennel and was surprised by how mellow the flavor was (I had heard it's very strong). Although, I did get some advice that the stems are way stronger than the bulb and I therefore only used the bulb. Next time I'll go further and pair this with some sort of fennel salad - I want to try a grapefruit and fennel salad with a citrus vinaigrette.

1 fennel bulb (bulb only)
1/2 lb Italian turkey sausage, removed from casing
1 15 oz. can of whole, peeled tomatoes
Any short cut pasta (try orechetti)
Balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried basil
Olive oil
Salt/pepp

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Remove the whole tomatoes from the can and get as much sauce off as possible. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, olive oil, basil and a touch of balsamic vinegar. Place in over for about 15 minutes or until just before they burn.

Using your food processor or a mandolin, finely slice the fennel bulb. If you have neither of these tools, chopping them into fine slices w a knife will be fine.

In a medium skillet, brown the turkey sausage with some olive oil. Once browned, add the fennel and some more olive oil and continue cooking just for about 3 minutes (you want the fennel to retain some "bite").

Pour the fennel/sausage mixture over the pasta and add the tomatoes. Toss and serve with romano cheese!