A Fabulous French Feast for Friday

Love the alliteration in that title! Sometimes it takes so little to make me happy ... :)

And aside from amusing myself while titling this post, another thing that makes me happy -- as we all know! -- is cooking ... and especially cooking a new recipe with Tom and having it turn out amazingly. Having new ingredients to play with, too -- like the divine Savory Spice Shop's Tarragon Shallot Citrus Seasoning I won from my blogging friend Karen's recent giveaway on Eat Drink Wash Up -- only adds to the fun!

This luscious chicken dish, from Joan Nathan's Quiches, Kugels and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France, is utterly seductive. From the moment the fragrant garlic and fennel start to cook in the pan, through the torturous time that the meal's aroma tantalizes you from the oven, this dinner will sing a Siren song until you can finally taste a tender portion of it and just go "Mmmmmmm ...."

We served it with roasted potatoes, which we cooked in a separate pan. But by all means, feel free to take Tom's suggestion to just throw the potatoes in with the fennel under the chicken, and give yourself one less dish to wash.


Friday Night Chicken Provençal with Fennel and Garlic

1/4 cup oil
2 fennel bulbs
1 large head garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon citrus seasoning blend
4 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons butter
1-1/2 cups chicken stock (the original recipe calls for white wine)

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Remove the stalks from the fennel, reserving and chopping a handful of the fronds. Cut the bulbs into quarters.


In a large skillet, heat the oil; saute the garlic for 1 minute over medium heat, then add the fennel. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and the citrus seasoning; cook, turning occasionally, for 30 minutes until the fennel is softened and caramelized.



Place the fennel and garlic into a greased 11" x 7" baking dish, and sprinkle with the reserved fronds.

Sprinkle the remaining salt and pepper onto the chicken. In the same skillet that you cooked the fennel in, brown the chicken for 5 minutes per side; place the chicken over the fennel.

Bring the butter and stock to a boil in the same skillet (why wash extra dishes???), and cook until reduced by half; pour over the chicken.



Cover the baking dish with foil and cook for 45 minutes until the chicken is tender.

Serves 4-6.