Roasted Chicken with Fennel Cream, Squash, Roasted Apple, and Sage-Pumpkin Seed Pesto
Golden roasted chicken thighs over a silky, gently sweet fennel cream, with caramelized squash, tender roasted apple, and a vibrant pesto of sage, parsley, and toasted pumpkin seeds. It's a cozy, beautiful autumn plate.
Yield: Serves 4 · Active: 35 min · Total: 1 hr · Best in North America in fall, when fennel, delicata squash, and apples are all at their peak · Best eaten: early evening
Ingredients
Chicken
2½ lb pasture-raised bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
1¼ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
1 tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed
Fennel cream
2 tbsp grass-fed butter
2 fennel bulbs, sliced (save the fronds)
1 small shallot, sliced
¾ cup chicken bone broth
2–3 tbsp heavy cream or thick sheep's or goat's milk yogurt
½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
Squash and apple
1 large delicata squash or butternut squash, halved, seeded, and sliced into half-moons
2 firm apples (like Honeycrisp or Pink Lady), cored and cut into wedges
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or melted ghee
½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
Sage-pumpkin seed pesto
½ cup raw pumpkin seeds, toasted
¼ cup fresh sage leaves (sage is strong, so it's balanced with parsley)
½ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 garlic clove
Zest and juice of ½ lemon
2 tbsp grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (optional)
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
Method
Roast the chicken. Heat the oven to 425°F. Pat the chicken dry, season with the salt, pepper, and fennel seeds, and roast skin-side up 35–40 minutes, until the skin is crisp and the meat reaches 175°F.
Roast the delicata and apple. Toss them with the oil and salt and roast on a separate sheet pan 25–30 minutes, flipping once, until caramelized. Add the apples for just the last 15 minutes so they stay tender, not mushy.
Make the fennel cream. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, add the fennel and shallot with a pinch of salt, and cook 8 minutes until soft. Add the broth, cover, and simmer 12–15 minutes, until very tender. Blend until silky with the cream and salt.
Make the pesto. Pulse the toasted pumpkin seeds, sage, parsley, garlic, lemon zest and juice, Parmigiano, and salt in a food processor, then stream in the olive oil until loose and textured.
Plate. Swoosh fennel cream across each plate, add the delicata and roasted apple, set the chicken on top, and spoon on the sage-pumpkin seed pesto. Finish with fennel fronds.
Storage: Chicken, up to 4 days refrigerated; fennel cream, up to 4 days; pesto, up to 5 days (press wrap onto its surface); delicata and apple, up to 4 days.
Nourishment Notes: Pasture-raised chicken brings complete protein, B vitamins, and collagen. Fennel offers anethole, vitamin C, and fiber, traditionally used to ease bloating. Delicata squash brings beta-carotene and potassium. Apples add pectin and quercetin. Pumpkin seeds bring zinc, magnesium, and iron. Sage offers rosmarinic acid. Parsley adds vitamin K and apigenin.
For your cycle: Pumpkin seeds' zinc and magnesium make this especially supportive in the follicular and luteal phases, and fennel has long been used to ease menstrual bloating.
Sourcing
Chicken thighs — pasture-raised, from a local farm raising birds on pasture, or White Oak Pastures
Fennel, delicata or butternut, apples, shallot, sage, parsley, garlic, and lemons — organic, from a farmers' market
Pumpkin seeds — organic and raw
Heavy cream or yogurt — raw from a local dairy, or organic, grass-fed cream (Kalona SuperNatural) or Bellwether Farms sheep's milk yogurt
Parmigiano-Reggiano (optional) — DOP, aged 24+ months, made from raw milk by law
Grass-fed butter and ghee — organic, cultured butter from 100% grass-fed cows; Ancient Organics ghee
Chicken bone broth — homemade from pasture-raised chicken, or Bonafide Provisions (organic, sold frozen)
Extra virgin olive oil — organic, single-estate, harvest-dated, in dark glass
Baja Gold sea salt
— Anna aka Food Marshall