MASCARPONE ROASTED CHICKEN
Ingredients
serves 4
zest and juice of 1 lemon, and 1 orange
3 teaspoons Dijon mustard
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
650 ml (22 fl oz/2¾ cups) white wine
2 fennel bulbs, fronds reserved to serve
4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
handful of green olives
Make a marinade with the citrus juice and zest, mustard, oil, salt, fennel seeds and wine.Slice each fennel bulb into quarters lengthways, and then each
quarter lengthways into three. Place the chicken, the fennel slices and the marinade in a sealable plastic bag, and chill in the fridge for a couple of hours, preferably overnight.
The next day, preheat the oven to 200ºC (400ºF/Gas 6).
Decant the entire contents of the bag into a roasting tin, arranging the chicken skin-side up, on top. Scatter over the olives, willy-nilly. Drizzle an extra bit of oil on top of the chicken (to help it brown). Place the dish in the oven and cook for 1 hour, until the chicken is brown and the fennel is tender.
Remove from the oven and reduce the sauce for a minute or two, either by placing the whole dish over the hob, or decanting the liquid and reducing it into a separate saucepan. It should become a delicious sticky ‘gravy’ consistency.
Serve, with the sauce drizzled over, and some fresh fennel fronds on top.
Bitter Honey by Letitia Clark (Hardie Grant, Hardback & eBook) Photography ©Matt Russell