Wow. I haven’t used chicken in a recipe in over a month. I think it is time to finally give poultry it’s time in the limelight. I received one bulb of fennel in my CSA share and thought this recipe for Sauteed Chicken Breasts with Fennel and Rosemary from Food & Wine sounded like a perfect use of the ingredient. As a plus, I had all of the ingredients already in my kitchen, with the exception of the chicken.
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large fennel bulb (about 1 1/4 pounds), cut into 1/2-inch slices
- 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat in a saute pan. Add the chopped fennel, 1 teaspoon rosemary and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Cook until the fennel is a golden brown color, about 12 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the fennel turns soft, about 3 minutes. Remove the fennel and liquid from the pan and reserve.
Clean out the pan and add 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the saute pan and top with the remaining 1 teaspoon rosemary. Cook on one side until brown, about 5 minutes.
Turn the chicken over and cook for another 3 minutes, until almost fully cooked. Add the minced garlic and stir.
Add the fennel and cooking liquid back in and season with a bit more pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer, cover, and remove from heat. Allow to steam for 5 minutes.
Stir in the parsley and serve.
I was a little nervous to try this recipe. I really don’t like the taste of licorice (i.e. fennel). But cooked fennel has a much more muted flavor than raw fennel, or even fennel seeds. This ended up being a really delicious dinner! The rosemary, fennel and garlic were great complements; the meal had a Mediterranean feel to it that I really enjoyed. I’m happy I now have a recipe for when I come across fresh fennel! The recipe suggested serving this with polenta. I had some red potatoes from my CSA share so I decided to serve the chicken with garlic and rosemary smashed potatoes.
Sauteed Chicken Breasts with Fennel and Rosemary
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large fennel bulb about 1 1/4 pounds, cut into 1/2-inch slices
- 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat in a saute pan. Add the chopped fennel, 1 teaspoon rosemary and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
- Cook until the fennel is a golden brown color, about 12 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the fennel turns soft, about 3 minutes. Remove the fennel and liquid from the pan and reserve.
- Clean out the pan and add 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the saute pan and top with the remaining 1 teaspoon rosemary. Cook on one side until brown, about 5 minutes.
- Turn the chicken over and cook for another 3 minutes, until almost fully cooked. Add the minced garlic and stir.
- Add the fennel and cooking liquid back in and season with a bit more pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer, cover, and remove from heat. Allow to steam for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the parsley and serve.
This looks great. Unlike you, it seems like I’ve been making chicken almost every night lately! I’ve never used fennel in a recipe and I’ve wanted to try it.
WOW looks fantastic!!!!
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This looks delicious! I’m a huge chicken fan, so this is right up my alley! Thanks for featuring chicken again!
Lovely with the chicken looking so tender but I need to leave out the fennel bulb as its really difficult to get here at Malaysia.
This looks awesome! I love chicken, can’t believe you haven’t used it in a month! I have been looking for a recipe to try using fennel, this looks like it might work!