Roasted Chicken with Fennel

I'm participating in the VegOut! campaign from Recipe for Success. It's a positive way to say "Eat Your Veggies!" Try a bunch of different vegetables - the goal is 30 veggies in 30 days - and see how you like them. Find some new ones you may not have known you liked and just eat more of them. Americans don't eat a lot of vegetables. Research shows that eating them is good for your health. You may be surprised to learn that you don't need to eat a lot of them - a meta-analysis showed that 4 servings a day is the sweet spot. Less than 4 is sub-optimal but more than 4 didn't seem to confer any greater health. So, get to 4. It's not that hard to eat that many. Stick to ones you like, nothing wrong with that. But, eat more of them!

This recipe uses a somewhat unusual vegetable: fennel. Fennel has a subtle licorice taste. You can eat it cooked or raw. It's used a lot in Italian cuisine where it goes by the charming name of Finocchio.

Note: This dish needs to marinate overnight for the full development of flavor.

Chicken Roasted with Ginger, Fennel, and Tomatoes
(serves 4-6)

Rub
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoons grated ginger
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, lightly crushed (see Note)
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper

4 - 6 chicken thighs, bone-in and skin-on (about 2 pounds)
1 head of garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 head of fennel, cored and sliced thinly
1 large onion, thickly sliced
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup dry white wine or vermouth
2 Tablespoons olive oil
salt and black pepper

Combine all the rub ingredients in a small bowl. Rub the chicken thighs with this, making sure you get most of it between the skin and the flesh of each thigh. Place the thighs in a large (big enough to hold the chicken and all the vegetables which you'll add later) glass or ceramic baking and marinate, covered, in the fridge overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Scatter the garlic, fennel, onion, and tomatoes around the chicken. Pour in the wine, drizzle the oil on the veggies, and season the whole thing with more salt and black pepper. Cover with foil. Bake for 1 ½ hours until chicken is completely cooked. Remove the foil and increase the oven temperature to 450°F. Put the chicken back in the oven and roast at this higher temperature until the skin gets browned and crispy. Serve over rice or roasted potatoes.

Note: To crush fennel seeds, smash them with the flat bottom of a skillet.

Chicken Gyro-Style

Lemon is a lovely flavor enhancer for chicken. Many marinades use lemon juice but here we use lemon zest. It has a purer lemon flavor. Lemon juice is very acidic and that tends to overpower the lemony flavor. Lemon zest gets all its flavor from the lemon oil in the skin. Just make sure to only grate off the bright yellow skin. The white underneath the skin, the pith, is exceedingly bitter and not the flavor you want to add to your chicken.

Here's a selection of tools you can use for zesting. My favorite is Microplane® but you can use the smallest holes on a box grater. You can get a box grater for a lot less money than a Microplane and it has multiple purposes (like shredding cheese). If you do spring for a Microplane, get one with a handle. They are easier to use than the handle-less variety. The citrus zester is a bit of an antique these days. Before there was a Microplane - it appeared in culinary stores in the mid 90's - the citrus zester was the tool for zesting. But, it can't compete with a Microplane which is why mine hides way in the back of the drawer these days.

Back to front: box grater, 2 different types of Mircoplane and a citrus zester

Chicken Gyro-Style
(serves 3-4, costs $4.65)

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
the zest of 1 fresh lemon
½ teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
a couple of sprigs of fresh parsley, chopped
1 pound boneless skinless chicken, thighs or breasts
salt and black pepper

Mix together garlic, olive oil, and lemon zest in a non-reactive pan that will hold all the chicken in one layer. Crumble up the dried herbs in your palm and add to the garlic mixture. Add the parsley and mix to combine. Put the chicken in the dish and rub the herb mixture all over the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.

Season chicken with salt and black pepper. Broil or grill until cooked all the way through, how long will depend on thickness of chicken. Thin pieces will take only 15 minutes and whole breasts can take 30 minutes.

Serve on a big salad or stuffed into a pita with lots of lettuce and tomatoes.

(Adapted from a recipe for lamb gyros from the American Lamb Association)

Spicy Chipotle Wings

Chipotles in adobo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chipotlesenadobo.jpg)

Super Bowl time! Here's a zippy chicken wing recipe for your Super Bowl party. Chicken wings are great as an appetizer or party food, but this is also great as an entree if you use thighs instead. The chicken marinates at least 2 hours (or up to overnight), so plan ahead. Unlike Buffalo-style chicken wings, these are baked, simplifying the preparation.

Chipotle chiles are ripe jalapenos (which are red) that have been smoked. They are quite hot and they have an incredible smokey flavor. Adobo sauce is a tomato-vinegar sauce that chipotles are commonly packed in. Chipotles in adobo sauce are sold in small cans. You will only use 2 chiles for this recipe, but the leftovers can be transferred to a small glass or plastic container, and they will keep in your fridge for a very long time. They can also be frozen. If you like chili, a single chipotle added to your usual chili recipe will add an interesting smokey/spicy note.

Spicy Chipotle Wings
(adapted from Perfect Party Food)

3 pounds Chicken Wings, or drumettes or thighs

Marinade
¾ cup Seasoned Rice Vinegar
¼ cup Vegetable Oil
3 cloves Garlic, peeled
2 Canned Chipotle Chiles In Adobo, with 1-3 tsp adobo sauce (depending on your heat tolerance)
¼ cup Packed Fresh Cilanto Sprigs
½ cup Red Onion, coarsely chopped
¼ cup Honey

1 tsp Kosher Salt

Put chicken in a bowl or large ziploc bag.

Combine vinegar, garlic, chipotle chiles, adobo sauce, cilantro, onion, and honey in a food processor. Process until smooth. Pour over chicken and smush it around to coat chicken well.

Park in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Spray with nonstick cooking spray or rub with a little vegetable oil. Transfer the chicken and marinade to the baking sheet and spread chicken into one layer. Sprinkle with salt. Cook for 20 minutes, turn over chicken pieces, and bake for another 20 minutes.

Serve hot.