Clementine Roast Chicken with Fennel and Honey
This Clementine Roast Chicken with Fennel and Honey is a lovely Winter dish that is light and zesty, but very comforting as well. This is a simple sheet-pan dinner recipe that comes together effortlessly and makes the best of two seasonal ingredients – citrus and fennel – paired with succulent roasted chicken leg quarters. A winning trio all the way. The perfect marriage of Citrus and Fennel, inspired by two Classic-French Recipes. The inspiration from this Clementine Roast Chicken dish came at the cross-point between two Classic-French recipes. First,…
- Prep time
- 20 min
- Cook time
- 50 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 4 Chicken quarter legs (300-350g each)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
- 1 fennel
- 1/2 cup (118ml) dry cooking white wine
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
- 2 tbsp (30ml) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 lemon : ½ lemon juiced + ½ lemon unpeeled, cut in ½-inch (1.25cm) slices
- 6 clementines: 2 clementines, juiced + 4 unpeeled clementines, cut in ½-inch slices
- 3 tbsp (60ml) honey
- 1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
- 1 tbsp butter (salted or unsalted)
- Salt, black pepper – for seasoning, to taste
Instructions
- 1
Step 1 - At least two hours before or the night before, season the chicken pieces with salt and black pepper, and place them in a large ziplog bag or shallow bowl.
- 2
Wash the fennel and trim off the tiny green fronds – keep aside for decorating later. Cut the fennel in half lengthwise and then each half into quarters, so you get 8 wedges. Add these wedges to the chicken pieces.
- 3
Add the white wine, crushed garlic cloves, EVOO, the juice of ½ a lemon and slices from ½ a lemon, the juices from 2 clementines and slices from 4 clementines, 2 tablespoons (40ml) of honey and fennel seeds. Seal the ziplog bag and massage for a few seconds to make sure all ingredients are well mixed together and the chicken is well-coated with the marinade. If using a bowl, stir well and cover with a plastic film. Refrigerate for 2 hours or as long as overnight.
- 4
Step 2 – Two hours later (or the next day), pre-heat your oven at 350F (180C) (convection ON), with a rack in the middle.
- 5
Take the marinated chicken out of the fridge and arrange all the ingredients on a large baking tray, placing a few citrus slices on top of chicken pieces and pouring all the juices over top.
- 6
Place dollops of butter (1/4 tbsp) on top of the chicken pieces and season to taste with salt and pepper. Finally, drizzle the whole tray with 1 tbsp (20ml) of honey.
- 7
Step 3 - Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until the chicken is cooked and the skin looks golden. Once or twice during cooking, open the oven quickly, dip a cooking brush in the juices at the bottom of the pan and brush the chicken pieces to keep moist.
- 8
Serve immediately on a bed of white rice. Arrange fennel wedges and citrus slices around each chicken pieces and decorate with fresh fennel fronds.