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, Duck a l’Orange – a much-celebrated recipe that features a golden, sticky-sweet, roasted duck in a rich orange sauce. And then, the Fennel Orange salad – a Winter favorite of mine that is bright, bittery and simple.

I wanted to recreate all the cozy yet bright feelings of these two recipes, but in one simple dish.

The use of seasonal clementines and lemons bring tons of pep and fragrant juices, the fennel brings bitterness, the golden-skinned roast chicken leg quarters brings that staple coziness – all binded together with sticky sweet honey, a touch of white wine and aromatics .

It’s bright, comforting, and healthy-ish too!

I love that this Clementine Roast Chicken recipe cooks in the oven and requires only one sheet pan – no fuss, no extra steps. Yet it holds complex flavors and is a great way to use seasonal ingredients in the Winter. Read my cooking notes below, and you’ll be all set for success.

Cooking notes:

• Leaving the skin on the chicken is essential to this recipe as it will contribute greatly to building flavors in this dish. You can choose to remove the skin later on – in your plate, once the dish is served.
• Instead of chicken quarter legs, you can substitute withskin-on chicken legs or chicken thighs. In this case, the cooking time may need to be slightly shorter (about 45 minutes).
• I highly recommend opting for organic citrus fruits, since we’re using sliced lemons and clementines with the skin on.
• Choose a big chubby fennel bulb that is slightly tender to touch, with white ends and bright green tiny fronds.
• This recipe requires marinating the chicken for at least 2 hours, so plan your schedule accordingly.
• After developing this recipe and thoroughly enjoying it, I did some research on Clementine-themed chicken recipes on the net and stumbled onto this Ottolenghi recipe, which happen to be similar to this one (great minds think alike!); so I thought it would be worth mentioning it. A few differences include Ottolenghi using grainy mustard and Arak – a Levantine anise spirit – instead of white wine, which I am sure lends incredible flavors as well. As a substitute to white wine or Arak, you could also opt for a French Pastis, such as Pernod.

This recipes fits a half-sheet pan, which measures 18-by-13 inches. This is likely the sheet pan you use everyday, to make cookies or other sheet-pan dinners. 

I hope you’ll love Clementine Roast Chicken with Fennel and Honey as much as I do! This is a simple yet impressive recipe that is perfect for Winter and that will feed 4 people. Serve it with white rice, couscous or other types of grains (quinoa, barley, etc.) or even orzo pasta.

You may also like:

• Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breasts in Grape Sauce 
• Simple Chicken Marengo with Mushrooms
• Cod Provençal with Tomatoes, Capers and Olives
• Slow-Cooker Beef Bourguignon

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @pardonyourfrench on Instagram and hashtag it #pardonyourfrench

Clementine Roast Chicken with Fennel and Honey

Print Recipe

Serves: 4 people Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cooking Time: 50 Minutes 50 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 4.5/5

( 15 voted )

Ingredients

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

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.

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.

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.

Step 2 – Two hours later (or the next day), pre-heat your oven at 350F (180C) (convection ON), with a rack in the middle.

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.

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.

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.

Serve immediately on a bed of white rice. Arrange fennel wedges and citrus slices around each chicken pieces and decorate with fresh fennel fronds.

Did you make this recipe?

I’d love to know how it turned out! Please let me know by leaving a comment below, rate the recipe and/or share a photo on Instagram: tag @pardonyourfrench  and hashtag it #pardonyourfrench.  Bon Appetit! 

The post Clementine Roast Chicken with Fennel and Honey appeared first on Pardon Your French.

But on many levels, they are not so different, if you ask me. Both the Brittany and Corsican people are known to be proud, tremendously proud, of their origins, dialect and people. Both deeply attached to their roots and unique cultural heritage, these regions are usually the most distant thought that France is known for outside of its borders (forget the Eiffel tower, fancy pastries and snail-like delicacies). Both Corsican and Breton cuisine – and landscapes – are wild, rugged and sourced from the root – wild shrubs, goats and pigs from the Corse Island. Salted sea, cows and pigs, for the Brittany side. And if you ask someone from either of these regional tribes if they are French, they will probably tell you they are Corsican or Breton, first and foremost.

With its soft texture, delicate notes of anise and licorice, and uncharacteristic appearance, the Caccavellu is deeply anchored into the rustic Corsican culinary landscape and is an inevitable Easter tradition. “Caccavellu” also known under the variations “caccavelli”, “caccaveddu”, “cacavellu” or “campanile di Pasqua”, which testifies of the eloquent multiplicity of Corsican dialects, still used nowadays.

Old Corsican tales say that this sweet bread marked the end of Easter Lent. The eggs not consumed during this period of fasting were used to create this dense and nutritious Caccavellu crown. And the odd tradition of placing whole hard eggs (in their shells) in the dough remained. The eggs are meant to be consumed by the children or during the traditional Easter Monday picnic, in the Corsican maquis shrubland. 

With the Corse island being a land of pigs and bores, it is no surprise that most versions of the Caccavellu are made with lard as a fat base. Lard being a less common baking ingredient here in North America, I opted for vegetable shortening, which I believe produced a similarly rich, yet soft texture. 

The traditional Caccavellu recipe also calls for Pastis, the famous Mediterranean anise liquor. But with this French staple being hard to find and pricey here in North America, I tweaked the recipe a bit and added instead two heaping teaspoons of freshly ground fennel seeds. The sweet, grassy flavor and delicate notes of licorice were just as fragrant and delicious. As simple and rustic as this recipe is, it truly makes for a perfect Easter Sunday Brunch delicacy – enjoyed on its own or with some butter and jam.

Corsican Easter Crown (Caccavellu)

Print Recipe

Serves: 12 Prep Time: 3 Hours Cooking Time: 40 Minutes 40 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 2 voted )

Ingredients

6 grams of yeast
2 tablespoon lukewarm water
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup white sugar
1 pinch of salt
¼ cup shortening (or ideally lard)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground fennel

Instructions

In a small bowl, stir together the yeast and lukewarm water. Let it sit for 10 minutes, until it starts to foam.

In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar and salt. Add in two eggs, the shortening, the vanilla extract, the ground fennel and yeast mixture. Mix it all together (by hand or in a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment).

Knead the dough for 10 minutes, until it is smooth and not sticky. Shape the dough into a ball, cover with a cloth, and let it rest for 2 hours, at room-temperature. After 2 hours, it should have doubled in size.

Pre-head your oven to 375°F. Prepare a sheet of parchment paper on a large baking sheet.

Place the ball of dough on a working surface and divide it in two equal parts. Shape each part into two long logs (about 2.5” wide). Twist the two logs together and shape them into a crown. Place a raw egg (whole, in its shell) in the crease of a twist (make sure it holds nice and tight in between). 

Optional: Brush the crown lightly with some milk (for a golden, glossy finish).

Place the crown onto the baking sheet and place in the oven for 40 minutes. The raw egg will cook slowly and thoroughly.

Once lightly golden, take out of the oven and place on a cooling rack. Enjoy it warm or at room temperature.

Well wrapped in a cloth, the caccavellu can be kept up to 3 days.

The post Corsican Easter Crown (Caccavellu) appeared first on Pardon Your French.