It is slowly getting colder here in Shanghai. It's that time when you know autumn is coming, and you need to reach out for a blanket to put on your legs while watching TV on your couch in the evening.
I got to spent the weekend in Dalian for a cooking demo for Kuhn Rikon and I completely fell in love with the city. It is in the north-east of China and it's surrounded by the ocean, which can easily make you understand why I liked it SO much.
After the event, where I demonstrated how to make 3 dishes using Kuhn Rikon cookware, I got to enjoy a nice cup of tea while watching sunset. The lights, the smell of the ocean, the breeze made my day.
The recipe I am sharing with you today has nothing to do with Dalian or autumn and even less with sunsets at the ocean. It is just a super convenient dish that you can prepare ahead of time, put it in your fridge and then pop it in the oven 1 hour before your guests are expected. The fresh flavor of the lemons and fennels marry perfectly with the chicken. Give it a try!
Ingredients (serves 2 or 4):
- 1 chicken (2 kgs), rinsed and patty dry
- Coarse salt and ground pepper
- 2 lemons, halved or quartered
- 2 to 3 fennel bulbs (2 1/2 pounds total), cored and cut into 1-inch wedges
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- fresh rosemary
- 2 cloves of garlic
Cut lemons in halves, peel garlic and wash the rosemary
Core the fennel and cut it into wedges
Keep some of the stalks with green leaves. Chop that in smaller pieces
Season the internal of the chicken with salt and pepper and stuff it with the fennel stalks, rosemary, lemons and one garlic. Tight up the chicken legs to avoid filling to come out while cooking
Grease a baking tray with olive oil, place the chicken in it and rub it with more olive oil, salt and pepper. drop the remaining fennel and lemons with garlic and rosemary all around the chicken
Roast until juices run clear when chicken is pierced between breast and leg, or an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of a thigh (avoiding bone) registers 165 F, 60 to 70 minutes, basting chicken with pan juices and tossing fennel halfway through
Transfer chicken to a platter and cover loosely with foil; let rest 10 minutes.
Carve chicken. Serve with fennel and lemons
Love
-LittleDani