BALSAMIC AND HERB PAN ROASTED CHICKEN WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS AND FENNEL

BALSAMIC AND HERB PAN ROASTED CHICKEN WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS AND FENNEL

#SIAintheKitchen

I love my family but I am definitely the most skilled in the cooking department, not being narcissistic at all…

My mom invited me over for dinner - okay, I invited myself over - and I offered to make dinner for her and my boyfriend. When I pitched the idea, she was super excited. She started listing off every single ingredient in her house - from chicken to beef to canned beans to sardines to olives and more. SO many things make. Gotta love hoarding Asian moms! Who needs to go to the store!?

After my mom had listed off everything in her household, I had an idea - I was going to make my baked mustard and herb chicken but because I was picnicking earlier in the day and forgot to take out the wine and dijon mustard from my picnic basket, oops. I had to think quickly so after some inspiration from my mom’s backyard herb garden and peaking through her cupboards, I came up with a balsamic herb pan roasted chicken with caramelized onion and fennel. Now that’s a mouthful.

My mom had a random fennel bulb (although rather large) and a bunch of fresh herbs that were coming through in her garden - rosemary, oregano and thyme. I thought I’d do a adult version of a dish that I made as a kid: balsamic chicken.

As a kid though, I made a baked balsamic chicken with onion. Although I vaguely remember it, I do remember adding onion and garlic powders and marinating the chicken in balsamic, olive oil, and chicken broth, baking it on top of a bed of onions. To pay an homage to that old recipe and memory, I did things a bit differently and kicked up a notch with the addition of white wine, caramelizing my vegetables, and fresh herbs and aromatics.

I made this recipe up completely on the fly and everyone at the table thoroughly enjoyed it. To be honest, I could’ve devoured that entire pan. There wasn’t even much of a need to finish the dish in the oven as it was already cooked but it was great to keep things warm in a uniform manner, not to mention the presentation was key. I ate this up with Greek salad and pesto cream pasta, not from scratch, but easily could’ve been eaten with a side of bread and a side salad. Yum!

BALSAMIC HERB PAN ROASTED CHICKEN WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS AND FENNEL - serves 4

Marinade:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

• 1/2 cup dry white wine

• 1/2 cup chicken broth

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

• 1 tbsp kosher salt

• 1/2 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped

• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped

• 4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only

• 1/2 tsp dried greek oregano

• freshly ground pepper, a generous amount

For the pan:

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

• 4 medium onions, sliced

• 8 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 large or 2 small fennel bulbs, ends removed and diced into 1” pieces

• 1 cup dry white wine

• kosher salt, as needed

• freshly ground pepper, liberally ground

• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

1. Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl. Mix thoroughly and ensure the chicken is submerged in the marinade. Cover and let marinate for at least 2 hours.

2. When ready, heat the vegetable oil in a cast iron pan. Begin to brown the chicken over medium-high heat. Do not move the chicken around. Let brown for 5 minutes and flip over to cook for another 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Add in the onions and begin to break them up in the pan. Saute for 5 minutes on high heat and bring the heat down to low to allow the onions to caramelize. Toss from time to time over the span of 20 minutes. Turn up the heat to medium and add in the fennel and garlic.

4. Start preheating your oven to 350F. Once the fennel starts to get some colour, gradually add in the white wine to deglaze the pan. Be sure to scrape off any bits in the pan. Season with salt and pepper and saute. As soon as the alcohol is cooked off and mostly evaporated, add the chicken back to the pan. Top with fresh rosemary sprigs and bring the cast iron pan into the oven and cook for another 15 minutes. Remove from heat and serve immediately family-style in the pan.