Fennel and Potato Casserole

Casserole made from sliced potatoes, fennel, and caraway served with pickled beets

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City/Region: Germany

Time Period: 1941

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How well people ate in Germany during WWII really depended on who they were, where they were, and how long the war had been going on. This recipe, from 1941, assumes that people will still have access to ingredients like milk and eggs, which would become extremely scarce for most people in later years.

If you like the anise-like flavors of fennel and caraway, this dish is for you. The flavors are very prominent and really take over the whole casserole. If you’re not too concerned about historical accuracy with this one, I think some more milk or the addition of some cream or cheese would be delicious and add some moisture.

“Fennel and Potato Casserole
1 kg fennel, 1 kg potatoes, 1/3 L milch, 1 egg, 30 g flour, 2 spoons nutritional yeast, caraway, salt
If necessary, remove the outer leaves from the fennel bulbs and cut off the green ones. Then cut them and the raw peeled potatoes into slices. Layer them in a greased baking dish, alternating with salt and caraway and the finely chopped fennel greens. The top layer is potatoes. Pour the milk whisked with an egg and a tablespoon of yeast flakes over it. Sprinkle with caraway and yeast flakes and bake the casserole for about 1 hour. — Serve with pickled beets or green salad.”

— Frauen-Warte, 1941

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Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 lbs (1 kg) potatoes, I used Yukon Gold
• 1 large bulb of fennel with the greens
• 2 teaspoons caraway seeds*, more or less to taste
• 2 teaspoons salt, more or less to taste
• 1 1/3 cups (330 ml) whole milk
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes, divided
• 1/4 cup (30 g) all-purpose flour
• Pickled beets or green salad, for serving

*You could also use ground caraway, the recipe isn’t specific, but be sparing when you sprinkle it on.

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). For this recipe, you’ll want a large casserole dish with a lid.
2. Wash and peel the potatoes, then slice them into rounds about 1/8 to 1/4 inch (3 to 6 mm) thick. Place them in a large bowl and cover them with water. Let them soak for about 15 minutes.
3. Cut the fennel bulb from the stalks. Cut the bulb into quarters, then cut out the core from each quarter. Slice the bulb thinly.
4. Strip the feathery greens from the fennel stalks and finely chop greens.
5. Grease your large casserole dish with butter or other fat. For extra authenticity, use as little fat as possible. Fats were hard to come by during the war and would have been very precious.
6. Lay down a single layer of potato slices in the casserole, then sprinkle on some of the fennel bulb. Sprinkle that with salt and caraway. The amount here is up to you, but keep in mind that caraway is a strong flavor, especially if you’re using ground caraway. Sprinkle on some of the chopped fennel greens.
7. Repeat the layers of potato, fennel bulb, salt, caraway, and fennel greens until you’ve used up your ingredients, finishing with a layer of potatoes.
8. In a bowl, whisk the milk and egg together until smooth, then stir in 1 tablespoon of the yeast flakes and the flour. In the historical recipe, the flour is mentioned in the ingredients, but not in the instructions. I opted to add it in here, but if you think that it should go somewhere else, feel free to do so!
9. Pour the milk mixture over the casserole, making sure to coat the potatoes. Sprinkle more caraway on top along with the other tablespoon of yeast flakes.
10. Cover the dish and bake for 1 hour. If you’d like, you can take the lid off for the last 10 minutes of baking time to let it brown a little on top.
11. Plate the casserole with either pickled beets or green salad, and serve it forth.

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