Where did my fennel go? I made tomato soup based on Adam Ragusea's recent video. It's a simple reciple:

Chop a medium-large onion, shave a bulb of fennel and toss both into a stick of butter with some freshly ground black pepper (he adds celery seeds, I added two stalks of celery chopped).

Add two large cans of quality tomatoes, with the juice and a glass of water or some white wine.

Bring to a simmer and wait until mostly ready, you can use a potato masher to break the tomatoes and speed the process (so it's about 45 minutes).

Puree with a stick blender, then add salt, water and pepper to preference. Straining optional. Sugar is optional if the tomatoes are too acidic.


I did exactly that and got what I thought was a pretty basic and decent tomato soup. But while the onion was very pronounced (and not very cooked, to be honest, so I'd brown the onions a bit before adding the rest), there is no hint of the fennel.
Other than using two bulbs of fennel, what could possibly be the reason, and how do I make it more flavorsome?
Fennel is a fairly delicate flavor.  I can see how caramelized onion and tomato would easily over power it.  The bulb actually provide the most delicate flavor of fennel.  If you want a more pronounced flavor, I would suggest fennel seed.  I would further suggest you toast them first.  They can then be used whole, or, if you want an even stronger flavor, grind the seeds.  You could also garnish with the frond, but still that is rather delicate compared to using seeds.