Roasted Chicken with Fennel and Potatoes

Dinner last night was chicken night. We always call it "crappy chicken night" mainly because we eat chicken about once a week and I always try to make it semi-healthy. This recipe, while not at all difficult, is very yummy - especially for crappy chicken night. It's based on a recipe I tore out of Everyday Food a long time ago and I've used the same recipe for several different combinations of chicken pieces and veggies. Feel free to substitute other cuts of chicken like bone-in breasts or drumsticks and other veggies like onions or carrots. Enjoy!

Time: about 1 hour
Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
• 1 bulb of fennel*
• 1 lb of potatoes - 7-8 golf ball sized or 4-5 baseball sized
• 3 TBSP olive oil
• 2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp whole grain mustard
• 1 tsp honey

Prep

1. Preheat oven to 450 with one rack on the second level from the bottom and another on the second level from the top. (upper and lower thirds of the oven)
2. Cover 2 cookie sheets with foil.
3. Cut the top stems off the fennel so you're just left with the bulb. If you look at the picture below under "Notes", you're cutting right where that rubberband is.
4. Cut the bulb in half from the top down. Then, in the same direction, cut each half in half again, then once again. You should be left with slices about 1 inch wide like in the picture
5. Now cut the potatoes in half three times like you did with the fennel. You should be left with little chunks with pointed tops - about 1 inch or so.
6. Lay out the chicken, fennel and potatoes on the 2 baking sheets
7. In a small bowl, put in the olive oil, cider vinegar, mustard and honey. Stir that together with a fork for a few seconds.
8. Put half of the olive oil mixture on each  cookie sheet and sprinkle salt and pepper generously on the chicken, fennel and potatoes (about 2 tsp salt and pepper on each sheet)
9. With your hands, toss everything together until the chicken, fennel and veggies are coated in the olive oil mixture.

Cook

1. Put the cookie sheets in the oven, one on the upper rack and one on the lower (like you arranged them earlier)
2. Cook for 15 minutes, then take out both cookie sheets and remember which one came from the top and which from the bottom.
3. Use a spatula to get under the fennel and potatoes and toss them around a bit so they cook evenly. They may stick a bit in some places so you want to be sure to move them around. No need to flip or move the chicken.
4. Put the cookie sheets back in, switching their position so the pan from the bottom goes on the top and vice versa
5. Cook for 20 minutes longer and do the toss and switch steps again.
6. Cook for 15-20 minutes more and take out when everything is nice and brown.

Notes

*Fennel

• Fennel is in season in the spring, which means it's cheap and flavorful. If you've never had it before, it's kind of like a mild tasting onion with a hint of sweetness. People compare it to licorice and I could see that, but I like fennel and not black stringy candy. Here's a picture of it so you know what to buy.
• It's also called "Anise"