Winner, winner, chicken dinner
To know me, is to know I absolutely love Nigella Lawson. To know Nigella, is to know she absolutely loves chicken. If you see a recipe by Nigella that involves a chook, you've got to cook it.
This week's recipe comes from her book Simply Nigella. I have used this book so much over the years that it no longer has it's pretty cover due to splash wear and tear and some of the pages are permanently stuck together.
There is one thing I love most about Nigella recipes. Their complexity levels are low but high impact and she loves a good prepare and pick up the next day number. I am immediately drawn to any recipe that has you prepping something and leaving it for a day. There's a magic to the elements of it, but you just know that chook is going to be juicy and delish as a result of said marination. None of us have time for, nor deserve dry chicken.
Nigella reckons you haven't truly moved into a home before you cook chicken in the oven. This recipe is the one she cooks when she moves into a new home to set the tone. It's a bold recipe choice is this one. Chicken, bitter orange and fennel traybake. The B&C is not a fennel fan, to aniseedy. but I think it's excellent roasted and hoping I can change his mind.
The marinade for this is the star, an olive oil and orange and Dijon mustard mix of goodness. I love a fennel and orange combo, they go together like Taylor and Travis and I'm confident I can win him over with it.
You need good quality, on the bone, skin on chicken thighs, but other than that most of the stuff for this is likely to be living in your fridge and pantry. The rest is basically chopping and mixing.
Last year I purchased a mandolin. I mentioned white sauce as one of my cooking nemeses, thinly slicing things is also up there. The mandolin in my opinion? Game changer, everyone must have one. I had two gnarly fennels chopped in 30 seconds.
The rest is basically a big kitchen bag (or a series of small ones which I had in my pantry) filled up with the chook, fennel and beautiful marinade and in the fridge. I left mine overnight and for most of the next day until I need it. I recommend a similar timing, although in true Nigella style she's also cool with a haphazard hour if it's all you can spare*.
I loved this recipe, you can serve it with almost anything, steamed potatoes, sugar snapped peas, mash, salad, it's really comforting without to much fuss. I normally hate eating chicken the next day, but this travelled really well. The B&C verdict? Not a 3 vote candidate for him (footy fans will get the ref) but did admit too it not being heavy on the aniseed flavours, just in case that would also turn you off cooking it.
Nigella has an amazing website, with truckloads of recipes from her books, this one is here: Chicken Traybake With Bitter Orange and Fennel | Nigella's Recipes | Nigella Lawson
*please spare more.
