Chicken Stovetop - with Tomato and Fennel

serves four (I halved every ingredient successfully to make a dish for two)

2 T unslated butter
3 T vegetable/olive oil (if using olive oil, do not use extra virgin, burns too quickly)
kosher salt
3 med-large cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
1 medium-large fennel bulb, stalks removed, some fronds reserved, cored and sliced
3 lb. skin-on, bone-in chicken legs and thighs
black pepper
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 14 oz can diced tomatos in their juice
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves + 2 T reserved fennel fronds
1/3 cup heavy cream

In a 12-inch frying pan melt butter and stir in 2 T oil over med-low heat. Add garlic and cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Transfer garlic w/ slotted spoon to plate and reserve.

Increase heat to med-high and arrange fennel in single layer. Season w/ salt and cook until well browned on each side (about 4 minutes per side). Transfer to plate and reserve.

Season chicken w/ salt and pepper. Add remaining 1 T oil to pan. When hot, put chicken in pan, skin side down. Brown on both sides, 12-15 minutes total. Transfer to plate.

Pour out all fat from pan into (this is where chicken fat tin can comes in handy) and set it over high heat. Pour in broth and scrape the pan with a wooden spoon scraping up the browned bits. Simmer until the broth reduces to about 1/4 cup (1-2 minutes). Add tomatoes wiht their juices and return chicken and reserved garlic to pan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to med-low and cover pan. Cook for 15 minutes, turning chicken once. Add reserved fennel and sprinkle basil and fronds. Cover and cook another 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through, turning once during that time.

Transfer chicken to plate. Increase heat to high and stir thecream into the sauce. Boil until slightly thickened, 3-4 minutes. Season to taste w/ salt and pepper, adding crushed red pepper if desired.

Here you may either pour sauce into a serving dish and nestle chiken in it, or as I prefer it, remove chicken from bone, shredding into bit-sized pieces and mixing chicken into tomatoes, fennel and cream like a stew. This is just me, but I believe it results in more servings. People are more inclined to eat a whole piece of chicken if it's on their plate. This way, serve up however much you want and there is plenty leftover for lunch th next day.

For dinner I served this with mashed potatos and a kale and grapefruit salad. For lunch the next day, I made half a cup of couscous and mixed it into individual tupperware containers with the stew.

Kale and Grapefruit Salad

Kale is an excellent, overlooked salad green, probably because it's kind of intimidating and most of us are used to seeing it holding an orange slice as a garnish we're not supposed to eat. You can eat raw kale within one-two days of purchasing it and if you let it marinate in a dressing for awhiel, you not only have a great dinner salad, you also have salad for lunch the next day that isn't wilted, gloppy and gross. Whatever you don't eat in one-two days, chop up and throw into a stew.

serves four

1/2 bunch supermarket kale, stems removed and leaves chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 grapefruit, peeled, and chopped into 1-inch pieces (the white pith is high in fiber, eat it)
2 T sliced, toasted almonds (optional)

Dressing:
Juice from 1/2 orange
2 cloves garlic, smashed through a press
2 T apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 T honey
1/2 T sesame oil

Mix everything together, shake, and pour over kale, grapefruit and almonds. Pour to desired kale/dressing consistency. This will last a day, dressing and all, unlike lettuce-based salads.

Enjoy!