Roasted Chicken with Fennel & Lemon

Since I started this clean eating thing, this has been the meal I have made most often.  It's so easy to prepare and turns out beautifully every time.  Juicy chicken with crispy flavourful skin and sweet and tangy, caramelized fennel.  I turn to it when I am lacking inspiration or if I have a million things to do around the house.  I just throw the ingredients together on a baking sheet, toss it in the oven and I'm free of dinner woes. 

Roasted Chicken with Fennel & Lemon
Origin: Adapted from The Kitchn

Notes:  My favorite way to buy chicken is the "cut up chicken".  My butcher offers a whole chicken, skin on and bone in, cleaned up and cut into 8 pieces, breasts, thighs, legs and wings.  I love getting the variety of cuts (I love thighs and my husband loves wings) and it's more economical than buying just breasts.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces, skin on, bone in (or 4 large chicken breasts)
1 large fennel bulb, or 2 small (with fronds)
1 large onion, or 2 small, halved and sliced 1/2 inch thick
2 lemons, 1 sliced and 1 zested and juiced
4 large cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Trim the stalks and fronds off your fennel, save the fronds and chop them finely.  Cut the fennel bulb lengthwise into quarters and slice the core out of each quarter.  Slice each quarter into 1 inch strips.

Place chicken, fennel and onion on a baking sheet.  Slice one lemon into 1/4 inch rounds and add to the baking sheet, zest and juice the second lemon over the chicken and vegetables.  Add the minced garlic and chopped fennel fronds.  Drizzle the whole thing with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Toss everything with your hands and make sure the seasonings are distributed evenly. Place the chicken, skin side up, in the center of the baking sheet and arrange the fennel and onions around it.  Sprinkle the chicken with a little more salt and pepper.

Roast for 1 hour, rotating the baking sheet once during cooking.  If things are browning to quickly, reduce the oven temperature to 425 degrees.  Remove from oven, tent the baking sheet with foil and let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.  Serves 2-4.