Sunday, April 11, 2010
Finocchio Pinnochio!
Yesterday at Whole Foods there was an explosion of root vegetables on display. Apparently the whole world has noticed that they are simply delicious when roasted in a big pan with olive oil, salt, and pepper. I bought two really beautiful fresh bulbs of fennel, red and white sweet onions, and then paid just .99 cent per pound for organic Bell & Evans chicken leg thigh pieces. My shopping cart was magically assembling the ingredients for a Sunday dinner I remember having at Grandma's house called Chicken Pinnocchio.
When I was a little girl watching Grandma Helen cook, it was always fast with a few simple fresh ingredients. Of course everything was always delicious. Her big black roasting pan and searing hot wall oven seemed to crisp the edges of foods like magic. No one could cook like my Grandma Helen, even when using the exact same ingredients.
About forty minutes ago I pulled out my Italian Vegetable cookbook, and while looking for flavor combinations for my version of roasted chicken and fennel, I learned that the word for fennel bulb in Italian is Finocchio. All these years I thought it was Chicken Pinocchio when it was in all reality Chicken Finocchio... or probably Pollo Finocchio.
Pollo Finocchio
In your big heavy roasting pan, assemble two bulbs of fresh fennel cut into wedges, two large onions cut into wedges, two Yukon gold potatoes cut into wedges, 8 chicken thighs and legs with skin on (or a whole chicken if desired) - drizzle with olive oil, squeeze in the juice of one lemon and toss well so everything is coated - then sprinkle the chicken and vegetables with kosher or sea salt, black pepper,1/2 teaspoon fennel seed, throw in the lemon halves. Roast in a 400 degree oven for 60 to 75 minutes, until everything is soft and golden with crisped edges.
and that's the dish... my Grandma's Chicken Pinocchio!
posted by Susan Maria of BariatricEating.com @ 1:36 PM
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