When I was taking part in my CSA this last fall and winter my kids and I had a BLAST picking out all of our foods and figuring out what they were. Honestly I was not introduced to a lot of foods as a child. My mother is a very picky woman as for tastes in foods. She likes asparagus but we were never fed this wonderful delicacy, nor artichokes (which are a personal favorite with drawn butter and capers), nor any family of squash that I can recall offhand, and my list can go on.
But in our CSA basket we received fennel, and I searched for recipes that would be fabulous for my entire family. My search was a failure. So I resorted to the old melon above my shoulders and came up with this FABS meal that your kids, husband, and you will LOVE!
4-5 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless are preferred)
sea salt and fresh ground peppercorn (regular pepper is also fine)
fresh grated lemon zest (the rind of a lemon)
fennel bulb, sliced thinly (reserve stalks to be frozen or used later)
2 T olive oil (or butter)
1/4 c. chicken stock
1 t. corn starch
4 T herb seasoning (I like Frontier Coop, but you can use the Mrs. Dash equivalent)
Wash off chicken and pat try. Cut into bite size chunks, set aside. Mix together all dry spice ingredients, salt, pepper and herb seasoning in a bowl with the corn starch. Add chicken to dry spice mix making sure the chicken is dry to be coated well with the spices.
Add olive oil to med-high pan to sauté sliced fennel and to begin to cook chicken. Quickly toss the fennel for a minute or two and add the chicken. Cook thoroughly and be sure the chicken is completely coated and again cooked through (170 degrees if you use a meat thermometer). Slowly add the chicken stock as a reduction to really boost the citrus bite of the fennel and enhance the flavor of the chicken.
The fennel will have a crisp yet tender taste and flavor, citrus and pepper based taste, the chicken will be tender and juicy.
Serve over a bed of rice or fresh spinach greens.
