Chicken with Fennel and Cranberry Sauce

Chicken with Fennel and Cranberry Sauce

Another super easy weeknight meal – and another recipe-that’s not really a recipe…

Years ago, I found a recipe in the Mayo Clinic cookbook that involved chicken, tomatoes, and fennel. I was new to fennel at the time and was a little bit skeptical about the flavor. I had been told that fennel tastes like a combination of celery, cabbage, and licorice. Hmmm… How odd. However, the first time I combined those ingredients into a casserole and tossed it in the oven, I was sold. The combination was delicious!

Recently, my friend left me a beautiful bulb of fennel from her garden and another friend had given me some delicious spicy whole-berry cranberry sauce that she picked up at the farmers market. I had two chicken breasts from C-Saw Hill Farm waiting to be cooked so I decided to combine these three ingredients together and cross my fingers. The results were amazing! You certainly don’t need to use a zesty cranberry sauce, any whole berry sauce will do, but I liked the little extra kick and the kids didn’t seem to mind at all.

Ingredients: 

1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
1 bulb of fennel, thinly sliced
2 chicken breasts, cut into 3 pieces each
1 1/2 to 2 cups of whole berry cranberry sauce

Directions:

Chicken with fennel and onions Waiting for the cranberry sauce …

Slice the onion and fennel so that they are comparably sized. You can use almost the entire bulb of fennel – even the fronds – just cut away any tough parts.

Layer the onion and the fennel in the bottom of a baking pan and arrange the chicken around the veggies. Sprinkle the chicken generously with salt and pepper.

Spoon the cranberry sauce evenly over the chicken and smooth it out so that most of the chicken and fennel and onions are covered.

Cook at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. 

We served our chicken with cranberry sauce and fennel beside some garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed brussel sprouts. Delicious! Enjoy!