Chicken Breasts With Fennel Carrots And Couscous Recipes

CHICKEN BREASTS WITH FENNEL, CARROTS, AND COUSCOUS

Steps:

• Rub chicken with 1/2 teaspoon paprika; season with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Cook chicken until lightly browned, about 3 minutes per side; transfer to a plate.
• Reduce heat to medium. Add 1 tablespoon oil, fennel, and carrots. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender-crisp and lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon paprika and cumin; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until spices are fragrant, about 1 minute.
• To skillet, add reserved chicken along with any accumulated juices, apricots, olives, orange juice, and broth. Cover and simmer until vegetables are soft and chicken is opaque throughout, about 12 to 15 minutes. Serve with couscous.

CHICKEN FENNEL BAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil.
• Cut the fennel into thick slices. Shingle them onto the center of the baking sheet and season with salt and pepper.
• Zest 2 of the lemons and set aside, then juice these lemons into a medium bowl. Whisk the olive oil into the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Halve the remaining 3 lemons and add them to the bowl along with the potatoes and carrots. Toss to coat. Spread the vegetables and lemon halves around the outside of the baking sheet. Put the chicken thighs in the same bowl along with the reserved lemon zest and more salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Put the chicken on top of the fennel skin-side up, leaving a little space between pieces.
• Bake, stirring the potatoes and carrots halfway through, until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Serve the chicken with the vegetables and roasted lemon halves.

CHICKEN BREASTS WITH FENNEL SAUCE

Steps:

• If the chicken breast halves are connected, separate and trim membrane or fat. Salt and pepper.
• Trim the fennel and save 4 green leaves for chopping, leaving only the white bulb at the bottom. Cut the bulb into 1/4-inch cubes. There should be about 1 1/2 cups.
• Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken breasts and cook until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add the shallots.
• Turn the chicken breasts and scatter the fennel around them. Continue cooking, shaking the skillet and redistributing the fennel, until it is cooked evenly. Cook about 3 minutes. Add the wine, broth, bay leaf, thyme and Tabasco sauce. Cover tightly and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. Turn the pieces occasionally.
• Transfer the chicken to a warm platter, cover with foil and keep warm.
• With a slotted spoon, remove about 1/2 cup of the fennel cubes. Remove the bay leaf and thyme sprig. Pour the remaining fennel mixture into a blender or food processor. Add the butter and blend to a very fine puree. Pour the mixture into a saucepan, season with salt and pepper as needed. Add any liquid that may have accumulated around the chicken. Add the reserved fennel cubes and the chopped fennel leaves. Bring to a simmer and spoon the sauce over the chicken breasts. Serve immediately.

ROAST CHICKEN WITH FENNEL

Steps:

• Heat oven to 450 degrees. Drizzle bottom of shallow roasting pan or baking sheet with about half the olive oil and cover it with a layer of the fennel. Overlap pieces if necessary but use whole pan. Drizzle remaining oil over fennel and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cut up chicken if necessary and sprinkle the pieces with salt and pepper.
• Top fennel with the chicken parts, skin side up. Ideally, you'll have a layer of fennel pretty much covered by a layer of chicken, but it's fine if some of the fennel roasts uncovered. Spoon some of the oil from bottom of pan over chicken. If there is not enough, drizzle additional olive oil over the chicken. Roast about 15 minutes, then baste chicken with pan drippings and rotate the pan. If necessary, adjust oven temperature so chicken browns but does not burn.
• The chicken will be done in about 30 minutes. Serve each piece with some fennel and a little of the pan juices spooned over, garnished with parsley and a lemon wedge.

CHICKEN BREASTS WITH FENNEL AND LEMON

Steps:

• Zest lemon and slice zest into matchsticks. Juice lemon, strain and reserve.
• Lightly sprinkle chicken with salt. Put deep frying pan over medium-high heat, pour in oil and gently sauté chicken breasts, about two minutes per side, until they are about half-cooked. Remove from pan.
• Pour off oil and discard, then add fennel, wine and lemon zest to pan. Bring to boil over high heat and cook until wine is reduced by about half and fennel is tender. Add broth and cinnamon, bring to boil and cook about 5 minutes to reduce sauce a bit.
• Add chicken with its juices and cook for 2 or 3 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a small bowl, beat egg yolks with half the lemon juice (about 1 tablespoon), then ladle in about 1/4 cup of sauce. Mix well, then add to pan, mixing well. Cook over medium heat, stirring a bit, until sauce appears creamy. Taste and add more lemon juice, if you like.