Do you ever cook recipes or with ingredients you don’t like? Our mom does, she makes a lot of Shabbat staples over and over again, but never eats them. Our aunt Michelle is the same way. I always thought it was weird.
I do not like anise; not sure why this triple-licorice chicken recipe appealed to me, but I made it, and it was tasty, according to the people who ate it. I guess I’m weird!
There’s arak, which some people on the internets thought was hard to find, but that is not for these Syrian foodies, fennel and fennel seed in here. That’s a lot of anise! There are also fresh clementines and clementine juice, which I used instead of orange juice, since I was already buying a big bag of clementines. And, of course, chicken! You can never have too many chicken recipes.
What ingredients do you cook with that you don’t like? Or do you bake things that you’d never eat? Let us know in the comments!
Roasted Chicken with Arak and Clementines from Jerusalem: A Cookbook
Ingredients:
- 6 1/2 tablespoons Arak (or Ouzo, Pernod, or any variety of anise-flavored liquor)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed clementine juice (from 3 clementines)
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 1.5 lemons)
- 2 tablespoons grainy mustard
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- freshly ground pepper
- 1 whole chicken, cut into 8
- 4 clementines, unpeeled, sliced thin
- a few sprigs of thyme
- 2 medium fennel bulbs, cut lengthwise and then into quarters
- 2 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds, lightly crushed
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together arak, oil, orange and lemon juices, mustard, brown sugar, salt, and pepper.
- Place chicken with clementine slices, thyme sprigs, fennel wedges, and fennel seeds in a large mixing bowl or ziplock bag. Turn several times to coat. Marinate chicken for several hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Arrange chicken and fennel in a single layer in a pan (or two) roast for 45 minutes.
- Transfer chicken, clementines, and fennel pieces to a serving platter. Let rest 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
- (I skipped this step:) Pour cooking liquid into a small saucepan. Place over medium-high heat, bring to a boil, then simmer until sauce is reduced and you are left with about 1/3 cup. You can degrease by using a spoon to remove some of the fat from top of the sauce. Pour heated sauce over chicken and serve.
