There are big beautiful bulbs of fennel in the grocery store right now and it prompted me to go hunting for a winter time recipe. This is my offering. A recipe inspired from a New York Times recipe and amped up a little.
Makes 2 servings.
Ingredients and Directions:
- Extra virgin olive oil as needed
- 1 bulb fennel, trimmed and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices; the fennel fronds reserved for garnish
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 chicken thighs
- About 12 kalamata olives, pitted
- Lemon wedges
Heat oven to 450 degrees. Coat the bottom of roasting pan or dutch oven with a drizzle of olive oil and cover it with a layer of the fennel. Overlap pieces if necessary. Drizzle more olive oil over fennel and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cut up chicken if necessary and sprinkle the pieces with salt and pepper.
Top fennel with the chicken, skin side up. Spoon some of the oil from bottom of pan over chicken. Roast about 15 minutes, then baste chicken with pan dripping. The chicken will be done in about 30 minutes. Five (5) minutes before the chicken is done, sprinkle the Kalamata olives over the chicken.
Serve each piece with some fennel and a little of the pan juices spooned over, garnished with the Kalamata olives, the fennel fronds and a lemon wedge.
Great recipe..I love fennel