Roasted Chicken with Clementines and Arak

Ingredients

• 2 fennels, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp thyme
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 large organic or free-range chicken (about 1.3kg), cut into 8 pieces, or an equivalent weight in chicken thighs with skin and bone
• 2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
• black pepper
• 2 tsp fennel seed, lightly crushed
• 3 tbsp light brown sugar
• 100 ml arak, ouzo, or pernod
• 3 tbsp orange
• 4 clementines (approx. 400g)s, unpeeled and sliced into 0.5cm rounds
• parsley
• Crusty bread, to serve
• Dressed green salad, to serve

Method

1. Toast the fennel seeds in a dry pan over medium heat for 30–60 seconds, just until fragrant and one shade darker — bloomed seeds taste of aniseed and pine, raw ones taste of nothing. Tip onto a board and crush lightly with the flat of a knife.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the arak, olive oil, orange juice, lemon juice, wholegrain mustard, brown sugar, the 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp black pepper until the sugar dissolves and the marinade looks glossy. Taste it — it should read sharp, sweet and properly seasoned; adjust salt now, before the chicken goes in.
3. Trim the fennel bulbs, halve them lengthways, then cut each half into four wedges through the root so they hold their shape in the oven.
4. Add the chicken pieces, fennel wedges, clementine slices, thyme leaves and crushed fennel seeds to the bowl. Work the marinade into the skin with your hands — the salt and acid need contact time to do their job. Cover and refrigerate for at least a few hours, ideally overnight. If you're short on time, push straight on; the marinade is acid-heavy enough to land flavour fast.
5. Heat the oven to 220°C (gas 7). Tip everything onto a baking tray large enough to hold it in a single layer — don't crowd it. Pieces touching means steam, and steam means pale skin instead of lacquered skin. Arrange the chicken skin-side up, with the clementines and fennel tucked around, not under.
6. Roast for 35–45 minutes, until the skin is deep golden and varnished-looking, the clementine edges have caught and caramelised, and the juices run clear when you pierce the thickest part of a thigh. A thigh should read 75°C at the bone.
7. Lift the chicken, fennel and clementines onto a warm platter and cover loosely with foil to rest.
8. Pour the tray juices into a small saucepan, scraping in any sticky bits from the corners of the tray — that's where the flavour lives. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a steady simmer for 5–8 minutes until reduced by a third to roughly 80ml, glossy enough to coat the back of a spoon. Taste and adjust — a final pinch of salt, or a splash of lemon juice if it's reading too sweet.
9. Plate the chicken with the fennel and clementines around it, spoon the reduced aniseed-citrus sauce over the top, scatter generously with torn parsley and finish with a squeeze of lemon over the lot.