Chicken Salad With Fennel And Charred Dates Recipes

Steps:

• Lay out the chicken, spreading out the parts as much as possible. Cover generously with 3 tablespoons of the fennel spice, rubbing it into the skin. Place a large pot over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add 6 tablespoons of the oil and heat to almost smoking. Add the chicken and brown on all sides, about 5 to 6 minutes per side. Add the celery, carrot, onion and bay leaves and sauté for a few minutes. Add 4 cups of water to the pot, or enough to cover the chicken. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook just until the chicken is almost fully cooked, about 40 minutes. Turn off the heat and cover and let cool. When pan has cooled, place in the fridge overnight.
• Lift out the cooled chicken and strain the stock, discarding the solids. Refrigerate or freeze the chicken stock for another use.
• Remove the skin and bones from the chicken. Shred the meat by hand into rough bite-size pieces.
• In a large bowl, combine the shredded chicken, celery heart, red onion, 6 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons Fennel Spice Rub, and salt and pepper, to taste. Add more oil, lemon juice, or Fennel Spice Rub, if desired. Add the basil and serve.
• Put the fennel seeds, coriander seeds, and peppercorns in a heavy pan over medium heat. Watch carefully, tossing frequently so the seeds toast evenly. When light brown and fragrant, pour the seeds onto a plate to cool. They must be cool before grinding, or they will gum up the blades.
• Pour the seeds into a blender and add the salt. Blend to a fine powder, shaking the blender occasionally to redistribute the seeds. Store in a tightly sealed glass jar in a cool, dry place, or freeze.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, toss together the sliced fennel, shallot and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Place the chicken on top, but don't stir.
• In a medium (10-inch) skillet, heat the oil over medium. Add the dates and cook, stirring halfway through, until blistered in spots, 1 to 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, turn off the heat, then add the fennel seeds and red-pepper flakes. Swirl until sizzling and fragrant, then immediately pour the oil and dates over the chicken. Toss to combine. Taste and adjust with salt, pepper, red-pepper flakes and lemon juice. Top with some torn fennel fronds.

Steps:

• Roast chickens:
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 425°F.
• Rinse chickens inside and out and pat dry. Stir together salt and pepper, then sprinkle over chickens inside and out. Put 1 tablespoon softened butter evenly under skin of each breast, then rub remaining tablespoon butter over skin of each. Arrange chickens in a 17- by 12-inch shallow heavy baking pan and roast, switching position of chickens and rotating pan halfway through roasting to help cook evenly, until thermometer inserted into fleshy part of each thigh (do not touch bone) registers 170°F, about 1 hour. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
• Discard skin and bones from chickens, then coarsely shred meat and transfer to a large bowl.
• Make dressing and assemble sandwiches:
• Stir together mayonnaise, yogurt, zest, lemon juice, fennel seeds, salt, pepper, and basil, then pour over chicken in bowl. Add chopped fennel and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
• Serve chicken salad in rolls.

Steps:

• Mix chicken, bacon, mayonnaise, dates, and pecans together in a bowl; season with salt and pepper.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 450 degrees. Drizzle bottom of shallow roasting pan or baking sheet with about half the olive oil and cover it with a layer of the fennel. Overlap pieces if necessary but use whole pan. Drizzle remaining oil over fennel and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cut up chicken if necessary and sprinkle the pieces with salt and pepper.
• Top fennel with the chicken parts, skin side up. Ideally, you'll have a layer of fennel pretty much covered by a layer of chicken, but it's fine if some of the fennel roasts uncovered. Spoon some of the oil from bottom of pan over chicken. If there is not enough, drizzle additional olive oil over the chicken. Roast about 15 minutes, then baste chicken with pan drippings and rotate the pan. If necessary, adjust oven temperature so chicken browns but does not burn.
• The chicken will be done in about 30 minutes. Serve each piece with some fennel and a little of the pan juices spooned over, garnished with parsley and a lemon wedge.