RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Creamy fennel and herby chicken tray bake
I love a recipe that requires minimal prep and not many dishes to wash. This creamy, herby tray bake is super simple and is left mostly unattended in the oven so you can catch up on your favourite show in between. It’s perfect for a weeknight dinner or a casual dinner party. This serves 4 as a main meal. I serve mine with freshly steamed vegetables from my Farmer’s Pick box.
Ingredients
- 1 Fennel bulb, cored and cut into 1cm slices
- 1 Red onion, cut in half and sliced
- 6 Garlic cloves
- 1 kg Chicken pieces (you can substitute for Portobello mushrooms)
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 cup Chicken stock
- 1 cup White wine
- 2 Bay leaves
- 1 Tin Cannellini Beans, rinsed
- 2/3 cup Cream
- 1 Bunch of Basil, pick all the leaves off the plant
- 3 tbsp Cornflour, mixed with 1 Tbsp cold water
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200 degrees celsius.
- Grab a large baking dish, mine is roughly 40cm by 25cm. Lay your sliced fennel, onions, garlic and chicken pieces in the dish. Drizzle the olive oil over the chicken and vegetables, season with salt and pepper and cook for 20 minutes until it’s nice and golden.
- After 20 minutes, carefully add the chicken stock, white wine, bay leaves and cannellini beans. Stir gently to distribute the beans. Turn the oven down to 180 degrees and cook for a further 20 minutes.
- Once the 20 minutes is up, add the cream and a third of the basil leaves to the dish and carefully stir. Cook for another 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and stir the cornflour mixture thoroughly through the sauce. This is a thickening agent so it’s important that you stir it properly. Return to the oven for the final 10 minutes.
- Take your delicious, creamy tray bake out of the oven. Finely chop the remaining basil and stir through the sauce. Taste the sauce and check if you need more salt and pepper. Serve with steamed vegetables or a salad.
Notes
- To make this dish vegetarian, you can easily swap out the meat for mushrooms. It’ll still need the same cooking time, as fennel takes a while to soften when cooked in this way.
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