It was my parents’ wedding anniversary two weeks ago. A week or so before that day, we usually ask them what they would want to eat for dinner that day. This time, Dad wanted to cook his spaghetti and some fried chicken too. Dad got his way, and cooked Pinoy-style spaghetti while I got my way to cook the fried chicken as I’d want.
I’ve always wanted to do oven-fried chicken ever since I’ve read about The Amateur Gourmet’s fried chicken which he learned from the Barefoot Contessa. The recipe called for marinating chicken overnight in buttermilk. Since buttermilk is not easily available for me, I settled for having my own marinade but following their cooking method. And since I’m in a fennel high the last few weeks (I’m trying to find different ways to cook the 500 grams of fennel seeds I bought last month, suggestions anyone?), I decided to rub fennel to the chicken pieces and keep them for an hour in the fridge.
Fennel seeds, I’ve found out, are really great with meat dishes. Fennel is native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean area. The ancient name of fennel is “marathon”, because the famous battle at Marathon (490 BC) against the Persians was fought on a field of Fennel. Did you know that in Greek mythology, Prometheus used the stalk of a fennel plant to steal fire from the gods?
Oven-fried chicken with fennel seeds
1 whole chicken, cut into serving pieces
2 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp black pepper whole
1 tbsp coarse salt
Mix everything together and ground till fennel seeds are bruised. Rub the mixture evenly to the chicken pieces and keep in the fridge for an hour prior to cooking.
Note: The cooking process calls for dredging the chicken in flour then frying in oil only until chicken is browned then it is finished off in the oven.
Dredge chicken in flour (mix with 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper). Fry chicken till brown. Transfer to oven-proof pan and bake till juices are clear (around 20 minutes at 300oF).
The fried chicken was really tender and juicy and really flavorful. No need for gravy. We had leftovers for the next day and the chicken remained juicy. Move over, KFC!
For more herbs and vegetables this week in the food blogsphere, check out Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Anna’s Cool Finds.
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This is so simple! And it looks like it really would taste good. Thanks for participating in WHB!
Fennel is such a fantastic flavor and yet there are not as many recipes using it! Thanks for the inspiration on fennel again!
I’m a huge fan of fennel seeds. I consider it to be essential in tomato sauce for pasta, and love it in curry powder too. Your chicken sounds just delicious. Hope it was a good birthday for your dad!
MMM – this looks wonderful. I like the idea of combining fennel and chicken. I am a big fennel fan – it goes particularly well with seafood and pork, both of which you have in abundance.
A piece of trivia for you – the fennel that Prometheus to steal fire was Ferula communis, a giant fennel that is related to edible fennel but is not itself edible. When I first saw giant fennel growing in Greece, I got really excited about all the ways I could use it in cooking, but then had to shed a tear when I found out it wasn’t edible! Boo Hoo!
I would be excited to see a fennel plant, I don’t we grow it here in the Philippines. Does the bulb taste like the seeds?
damn that made me hungry! i’ve written this down for further refrence.