This baked chicken recipe gives a beautiful depth of flavour and is a one-pot wonder – supremely simple and absolutely delicious!

Ingredients:

6 free-range chicken thigh’s, bone in
1 large brown onion
1 large fennel bulb
1-2 carrots
1 lemon, rind and juice
45g dukkah
1 large garlic clove
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh dill leaves
2 teaspoons ground black pepper

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 220ºC.

Slice onions, fennel and carrot to about the same thickness.

Use a sharp knife to remove the rind from the lemon in strips about thumb width. Remove as much white pith as you can, so all you are left with is a little strip of yellow goodness.

Place onion, fennel, carrot,sliced garlic, lemon rind, lemon juice, pepper, dill and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil into an oven proof casserole dish (with a lid) and mix together well.

Fill a medium bowl with dukkah and the remaining olive oil and gently press the chicken pieces in the dukkah. I used thighs with the bone in and the skin left on so it retains moisture. This would be a beautiful recipe with chicken legs too!

Place the coated chicken over the other ingredients in the casserole dish and put into the oven, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, reduce oven to 140ºC, cover, and bake for 2 hours. I was ahead of time for lunch on Saturday so I simply left the chicken in the oven while I waited for my beautiful guest. While we were having a bowl of pumpkin soup, I turned the oven back up to 220ºC and baked again, uncovered for 20 mins. This process intensifies the flavour by reducing the liquid and crisps the chicken on top!

Serve on its own or with greens of your choice. It’s amazing – simply amazing!