Fennel & Apple Roasted Chicken
Raise your hand if you feel personally victimized by fennel. Do you love it? Hate it? I know- raw fennel has a sharpness, tasting like anise or licorice. However, when you roast it, the sugars in the veggie get to caramelize, making a sweet and savory bite of deliciousness that pairs perfectly with root veggies like carrots and sweet potatoes and take on the perfect sweetness of apple. Lucky for us, we can add all of these things, in one pan, to make a one pan roasted chicken and veggies. This meal is perfect for Sunday Dinner, or for dinner any night of the week with the promise of leftovers for lunch! Yum. Be sure to keep the chicken carcass to boil for stock- perfect for soup! That's also one of my favorite parts of this recipe, minimal waste. Quarter the fennel bulb to roast and use the stems and fronds (the top hairy part) to stuff the bird with as aromatics! Keep the ends of the carrots to add to your stock after dinner!
To cut the fennel bulb, remove the stems and leave the white bulb at the bottom. Trim both ends. Cut the bulb in half and then into quarters. Remove the middle fibrous stem and you're ready to eat! If you've never roasted a chicken, it's a lot easier than it looks. Set it, don't quite forget it, but walk away for 90-ish minutes. The secret to success? A meat thermometer. You'll know your bird is done when your thermometer reads 160 degrees. Since most chickens are sold at different weights, there really isn't a set "this many minutes at this degree" cut & paste method, so rely on your meat thermometer. If you don't have one, they're in any kitchen aisle at the grocery store, or grab on on Amazon. Let's get to it.
Fennel & Apple Roasted Chicken Serves 4 Ingredients 1 5-7 lb organic chicken 1 Organic Perfectly Imperfect fennel 2-3 Organic Perfectly Imperfect apples 2-3 Organic Perfectly Imperfect carrots 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 tsp each salt & pepper
Directions 1. Preheat oven to 400. 2. Core Apples and Fennel, cut into large chunks. Wash and trim carrots, also cut into large chunks. Keep all the veggies similar sized so they cook at the same time. 3. In a roasting pan, scatter veggies at the base, and place whole chicken on top. Drizzle with olive oil, and rub into the skin. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. 4. Roast chicken for 45 minutes at 400, then bump the heat down to 350 for 45 additional minutes. Check the temperature, and once it reads 160, your chicken is done! 5. Slice chicken and top with roasted veggies and the pan drippings. Enjoy! We hope you love this recipe as much as we do, and if you're team no fennel, we hope you give this a try! We love to see what you create each week, so be sure to share your photos with us, @perfectlyimperfectproduce, so we can share your foodie ideas! Thanks for another great week, friends!
