Fennel and Chopped Garlic Clay Pot Chicken

 My favorite way to cook chicken is in a clay pot.  The clay pot makes the chicken very tender and circulates the garlic and fennel flavors for hours making the chicken taste very flavorful.  I have included the recipe and this particular one happens to be my family's current favorite.

If you don't have a clay pot, check them out here. I got mine at our local thrift store at a small fraction of the price.

Soak your clay pot in water for 5-10 minutes before cooking in it.  Dry and oil the inside of the pot with canola oil or butter so that the chicken and vegetables will not stick to it.

 Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
handful fresh fennel, chopped
5-8 cloves of garlic
tsp salt
tsp pepper
optional TBS of each: fresh thyme and oregano
2 potatoes
2 beets, large

Preheat oven to 350F.

To prepare the herbs, dice a large handful of fennel and place in a bowl.  Peel 5-8 cloves of garlic.  Place the garlic, fennel, salt and pepper (and optional de-stemmed thyme and oregano) under the skin of the chicken.  I put the chicken breasts up in the pot and stuff the herbs and garlic under the skin on the breasts.  If it seems like a lot of fennel and garlic, that is good! 

place the two beets and potatoes on top of the chicken so that the lid still fits tighly over it all.  Cook for 2+ hours.  I recommend 2-3 hours, as the clay pot holds in the moisture and that extra time just makes the chicken more tender.

Serve with a green salad, rice, and good friends!

There are actually a few books you can buy about clay pot cooking, here is one.