Lemon-Fennel Chicken in a Pot | Everyday Dorie

The concept of a one-pot chicken is appealing. The process of having a whole chicken, fennel, lemon and garlic nestled in a Dutch oven and roast for one and a half hours seems uncomplicated. Once the pot is removed from the oven, it can go straight to the table. Serve with baguette; the idea is to dunk the bread and grab every drop of the delicious juices in the pot. Doesn’t that sound like the ideal weekday meal or a casual dinner for a group of friends?

What’s good on paper may not work out as smoothly in real life. First thing first: the chicken. Second: the pot.

• Dorie’s recipe calls for a 4 pound chicken. For me, my preference has always been a young 3-pound chicken for its optimal skin-to-meat ratio. It takes a few visits to several markets before I manage to find a chicken closer to 4 pounds than 3 pounds.
• The next dilemma is whether to use a 6-quart or a 9-quart Dutch oven I have in my kitchen? Both are in oval shape which is ideal for roasting chicken. I choose the smaller 6-quart. It’s a little snug with all the fennel, lemon, shallot pieces around the chicken. Next, pour in half a cup of chicken broth in the pot. Looks like everything fits in the pot right up to the rim and touching the lid.

Once the vegetables (one fennel, two lemons, three large shallots, 2 heads garlic) seasoned with salt, pepper and plenty of olive oil, the chicken and the herbs (thyme, bay leaves) are put in place, I cover the pot with a sheet of aluminum sheet and the lid. Slide the pot into the oven and let it roast for 90 minutes. Dorie says no peeking! Let’s hope for the best.

Here is the final review and the verdict. There is more liquid in the pot than before the roasting. How’s that possible? My guess is because the nearly-four-pound chicken fitting tightly in a six-quart Dutch oven creates more of a steaming rather than a roasting environment. Another way to look at it: there is simply no room for air to circulate in the pot. Lesson learnt.

More important, the flavor from the lemon wedges and juice is overpowering and one dimensional. The juice in the pot is too acidic for my taste. Knowing what I know now, I have to find a better way to execute the concept of a chicken in a pot.

Print Recipe

Chicken in a Pot

By Dorie Greenspan – Serves: 4

Here is a variation in the methodology as compared to the lemon-fennel chicken in a pot. The recipe below requires sweating the vegetables and searing the chicken. I think it's a better approach in extracting flavors from all the ingredients than just putting them in the pot all at once. Baking time is 70 minutes, at 450°F initially, then lower to 325°F.

Ingredients

• Approximately 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 heads of garlic, broken into cloves, but not peeled
• 16 shallots, peeled and trimmed, or 4 onions, peeled, trimmed and quartered, or 4 leeks, white part only, halved lengthwise
• 8 carrots, peeled, trimmed and quartered
• 4 celery stalks, trimmed and quartered
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 4 sprigs flat-leaf parsley
• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• 16 prunes, optional (apricots or dried apples are also good in this dish)
• 1 chicken, whole or cut-up
• 1/2 small (2 lbs or less) cabbage, green or red, cut into 4 wedges (try Savoy cabbage)
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup white wine, or another 1/2 cup chicken broth
• About 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, for the seal
• About 3/4 cup hot water, for the seal

Instructions

1

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

2

Set a large skillet over high heat and add about 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Toss in the garlic cloves and all the vegetables, EXCEPT the cabbage – you might have to do this in two batches, you don’t want to crowd the skillet – season generously with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until the vegetables are lightly browned on all sides. Spoon the vegetables into a large Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid – you’ll need a pot that holds at least 5 quarts. Stir in the herbs, lemon zest and prunes, if you’re using them.

3

Return the skillet to the heat and add another tablespoon or so of oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and brown the chicken on all sides. Put the chicken in the casserole, nestling it among the vegetables. Fit the cabbage wedges around the chicken.

4

Stir together the chicken broth, wine and 1/2 cup olive oil and pour the mixture over the chicken and vegetables.

5

Now you have a choice: you can cover the pot with a sheet of aluminum foil and the lid, or you can make a paste to seal the lid. To make the paste, stir the flour and water together, mixing until you have a soft, workable dough. Working on a floured surface, shape the dough into a long sausage, then press the sausage onto the rim of the casserole. Press the lid into the dough to seal the pot.

6

Slide the pot into the oven and bake for 70 minutes. If you need to keep it in the oven a little longer because you’re not ready for it, don’t worry – turn the heat down to 325 degrees F and you’ll be good for another 30 minutes or so.

7

The easiest way to break the seal, is to wiggle the point of a screwdriver between the dough and the pot – being careful not to stand in the line of the escaping (and wildly aromatic) steam. If the chicken was whole, quarter it and return it to the pot, so that you can serve directly from the pot, or arrange the chicken and vegetables on a serving platter.

Notes

Adapted from https://doriegreenspan.com/old_site/when-in-doubt-chicken-in-the-pot/