Roasted Chicken with Fennel

After discovering I would be getting a fennel bulb in the box this week, I planned to make roasted chicken. Today seemed like the perfect day for having the oven on for hours, one of our last cool spring days. I needed to supplement the fennel I got from the CSA though with some from the farmer's market today. We all loved this supper, but I definitely tweaked this recipe and will again more next time. So instead of just giving a link to epicurious, I will type up how I did (and will do) the recipe. If you want to see the original recipe, click here. I think the best part of the recipe was the roasted fennel and potatoes around the chicken. I didn't have all the fresh herbs, just rosemary, but I included them in the recipe because I am sure they would make everything even better!

Roast Chicken with Fennel
2 lg fennel bulbs, fronds trimmed, and cut into 8 wedges
1 T plus 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
5 garlic cloves, peeled
1 T fennel seeds
1 T fresh thyme, chopped
1 T fresh rosemary, chopped
1 T fresh tarragon, chopped
1 T fresh marjoram, chopped
3/4 t salt
1/2 t ground black pepper
3 -4 medium red potatoes, quartered (or cut into sixths, depending on size)

1 4-5 lb chicken
1 lemon, cut into 1/8ths


Cook fennel in large pot of boiling water until tender when pierced with a knife, about 8 minutes. Drain. Transfer to a bowl. Mix in 1 T oil, garlic, fennel seeds, thyme, rosemary, tarragon, marjoram; then salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Rinse chicken inside and out, pat dry (I never do this). Rub chicken outside with 1/2 of lemon. Rub outside of chicken with 2 T olive oil, and then sprinkle some salt and pepper outside of skin and between skin and meat. Loosely stuff chicken with fennel mixture and leftover lemons. Place chicken in roasting pan. Mix potatoes with remaining fennel mixture and arrange around chicken. Roast chicken for 30 minutes, then reduce heat to 325, cover and bake an additional hour or so until a meat thermometer registers 180 in the thigh or 170 in the breast. Allow to stand 10 - 15 minutes before serving.