Carrot and Fennel Bake

It seems like almost any vegetable can be baked in the oven with a little olive oil and salt and be absolutely delicious... so why carrots and fennel?  Miles came up with this simple "bake" and made it for me for Valentine's Day dinner one year (along with some sides) and we just loved the combination!  The dish cooks for almost an hour and a half, but only takes about 10 minutes preparation, so this is our go-to meal for lazy evenings 🙂  We buy tri-color bunches of carrots which includes the regular oranges ones, plus white ones and purple ones.  Use just the orange ones if you must, but if you can find them, definitely include the purples and whites!

We use a 9" glass pie pan for baking, and we cover it with another glass pie pan so that we don't have to use aluminum foil, but any decent baking vessel should work.

Ingredients

One large bunch carrots, sliced at a very steep angle into 2 to 3-inch pieces
Two medium fennel bulbs, coarsely chopped (stems and leaves removed)
10 Garlic cloves (optional)
4 chopped green onions.
Olive oil or butter (refrigerated and chopped into small cubes)
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place all veggies in pan and drizzle with oil or butter cubes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper then cover. Place covered baking pan into oven on center rack and bake for 1 hour, 15 minutes. Serve as a side dish or as a full meal with bread or rice.