Sunday 14 September 2008

CHICKEN WITH OLIVES, PRESERVED LEMON AND FENNEL

The chicken part is great but what makes it superb is the polenta with blue cheese..... see below.

8 chicken pieces
1 fennel bulb, coarsely chopped
3 large parsnips, coarsely chopped
 Tbl curry paste mixed with olive oil to thin...maybe 50ml....more or less
1Tbl fennel seeds
a large handful of olives
1/2 preserved lemon / lime
1/2 fresh lemon, thinly sliced then chopped
1
1/4 cup verjuice
pepper
a handful of coriander,chopped

Preheat oven to 180
Put a bit of oil into a baking dish and lay the vegetables over in one layer, turn in the oil.
Combine the chicken pieces, fennel seeds, curry paste mixture and lemons in a bowl and turn them in to coat. 
Place the chicken and all the bits on top of the vegetables in the baking dish in one layer.
Dust with paprika and turn it all in together after 40 minutes.
Bake about 1 hour total.
Just before serving mix in verjuice, pepper and coriander leaves.

Polenta:
1.5 cups polenta : 1.5 litres cold water
To cook polenta with no lumps it is dead easy if you add the polenta to cold water with 1 tsp salt, then heat moderately quickly before reducing the heat and allowing it to thicken. Towards the end of 30 mins. add lots of left-over bits of good, strong cheeses, which must include some blue. Anything and everything is good...not just good..... excellent! This comes from a lovely cookbook I have called "Pass the Polenta".

This is not a low fat meal! But my goodness, it is worth every gram!