Recipes
Second course
Roast
Spring roasted chicken with fennel and blood oranges

Spring roasted chicken with fennel and blood oranges

Roast

Roasting

Mercury begins to creep up in early March, melting the drifts of snow, teasing up the bulbs and my palette yearns for the taste of spring. Fennel, with its delicate anise flavor, a cool weather crop, is at its best in early spring. And the appearance of blood oranges at the market are a sure sign spring is on its way. The sweet and beautiful crimson flesh pairs wonderfully with the savory flavors brought out by roasting the fennel in this dish. Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi celebrate the flavors of Jerusulem in their new cookbook "Jerusalem: A Cookbook," Ten Speed Press. Their recipe for Chicken with Clementines and Arak inspired my adaptation. I thought their recipe needed brighter and more vibrant flavors and made the following adaptations. I used Pernod in place of Arak simply because that is what I had in the cabinet. The fennel and Pernod seem to be enough anise flavor, so I left out the anise seeds which seemed too heavy. And because I wanted more orange flavor, I substituted blood oranges for the clementines. After tweaking a few other ingredients, (honey instead of brown sugar, more Pernod, more orange juice) I added the zest of one orange and one lemon to intensify the citrus flavor even more. I like to use bone in, skin on, chicken breast cut in half along with skin on, bone in thighs. By cutting the chicken breast in half, all the pieces are about the same size. The smaller pieces also let in more of the flavors of the marinade. Marinating the chicken in the roasting pan makes it almost a one dish recipe. Don't scrimp on the marinating time, or you will miss the burst of spring flavors that make this dish more than jet another roasted chicken dish.