Recently I bought an expensive bunch of baby fennel at the greenmarket and when I got it home had no idea what to do with it as the bunch was comprised of lots of fennel fronds and almost no bulbs – as you can see from the photo. I chopped the fronds and froze them for future flavoring of soups and stews. I trimmed off the root and was left with about a handful of nowhere-near-large-enough-to-do-anything- with bulbs. That led me to ponder why eager farmers often pick some things too early and busy farmers pick others too late, such as this “unborn” fennel and those 2-foot long seedy, spongy zucchini seen in late August. Anyway, I finally decided to make a stir-fry with chicken, fennel, leeks, and red bell pepper. I threw in some of the fronds for added flavor ‘cause those babies didn’t carry much. Was the dish worthy of the expense – absolutely not. Would I buy those little guys again – of course I would just because maybe next time I’ll think of something really interesting to do with them.