Sunday Braised Chicken and Spring Vegetables

A rich and filling yet somehow delicate way of showcasing much of the best early summer produce: snap peas, shelled peas, early carrots, new potatoes, turnips, fennel, scallions, and garlic scapes. This is one dish but one that takes love and time. It is best made on a long, quiet Sunday afternoon with music playing and an open bottle of wine.

Ingredients:

• One fennel bulb, thinly sliced

• One bunch of scallions, including green tops, diced

• One bunch of garlic scapes, diced

• 6-8 new potatoes, diced into one inch chunks

• One bunch of carrots, cut into chunks

• 8 small turnips

• 1lb sugar snap peas, seam removed and sliced diagonally

• 1lb shelled peas

• Tarragon, finely diced

• Dill, finely diced

• Parsley, finely diced

• Lemon, grated and juiced

• One whole chicken, cut into eighths

• White wine

• Flour for dusting

• Tomato paste

• Bay leaf

• Nutmeg, freshly grated

• Salt

• Pepper

• A little heavy cream

• Homemade stock

• Olive oil

• Butter

Recipe

1. Prep all the veggies and breakdown the chicken. Put the fennel, scallions, and garlic scapes into one bowl, the potatoes, turnips, and carrots in another, and the peas into another.

2. Finely dice herbs and mix with lemon zest. Wait to juice lemon until you add to the dish at the end.

3. Put any leftover veggies scraps you’ve been saving and the chicken back and any other trimmings into a pot with a bay leaf and black peppercorns. Bring to a low simmer.

4. In a large bowl add flour, salt and pepper to the chicken pieces. Shake to coat.

5. Heat a Dutch oven over medium / medium high heat for a few minutes. Add a splash of olive oil and some butter.

6. Brown the chicken in the Dutch over in two waves to make sure the pieces have space in the pot. Cook each batch in total for five to eight minutes, until lightly brown on all sides. Remove to a wire rack or a plate lined with paper towels.

7. Wipe out with paper towels the excess chicken pieces in the Dutch oven.

8. Sauté the scallions, scapes, and fennel for three to five minutes.

9. Add tomato paste and let simmer for two to four minutes until it starts to darken.

10. Deglaze with white wine and let the wine reduce by half.

11. Add the potato, carrots, and turnips to sauté for one to two minutes.

12. Add two cups of broth from the simmering pot on the other burner next to the Dutch oven.

13. Add two tablespoons of four and whisk to thicken.

14. When the liquid starts to thicken add another two cups of hot broth and continue to whisk.

15. Add the chicken pieces back to the Dutch oven and submerge in the liquid and veggies.

16. Cook at a gentle simmer with the lid ajar for 35 minutes.

17. Give it a stir and add the peas. Simmer with the lid off for another five or so minutes. Add more broth as needed.

18. Take off heat. Add a tablespoon or two of heavy cream, lemon juice, and stir to combine.

19. Ladle into bowls and top with herb and lemon zest mixture.