Chicken with Garlic and Fennel

This is a quick, simple and satisfying. Lovely with plate of green beans, and new potatoes, home cooking at its best.

1 tsp Coriander seeds, organic
1 tsp Fennel seeds, organic
½ tsp Saffron, organic
½ tsp Crushed Bird's Eye Chilli, organic
1 chicken – cut into 8 pieces
sea salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsps olive oil
2 red onions – finely sliced
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 fennel bulbs – trimmed and quartered
250ml white wine
2x 340g tinned tomatoes
pared zest of 1 orange
3 bay leaves
5 thyme sprigs
1-2tbsp olive oil

Season the chicken well with salt and pepper. Put the olive oil into a casserole (big to hold all the ingredients comfortably) over a medium heat. Brown the chicken in batches until golden. In a separate pan warm the fennel seeds and coriander seeds until they release their aroma and grind with a pestle and mortar or grind in a grinder.

Add onions in the casserole and cook over a low heat for 5mins. Add the chilli flakes, the ground spices, saffron and garlic. Season with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Add the fennel bulbs to the pan, pour over the white wine and turn up the heat. Let it bubble and add the tomatoes. Return the chicken to the pan along with the herbs and orange zest. Turn the heat down cover and cook gently for 40mins or until the chicken is cooked through.

Season to taste. Add a splash of extra virgin olive oil at the end of the cooking time. Serve with rustic bread.

Adapted from a recipe by Skye Gyngell

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