Roasted chicken with fennel and pasta

This is a dish that I made while up at Whistler to feed the returning skiers. I wanted to make something that did not require me do a lot of cooking near serving time, using few dishes and I was presented with a lovely free range chicken as my main ingredient. For the most part I was trying to use what I found in the fridge, which was fairly well stocked.

To feed 4

1 whole chicken cut up or equivalent in pieces
1 fennel bulb sliced
1 onion chopped
4 cloves of garlic peeled and sliced
2 cups of grape tomatoes or you could use large ones sliced
1 cup of pitted olives.
3 table spoons of olive oil
4 cups of dried penne pasta
1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
1 bucket of baby arugula
juice of 1 lemon

Put the fennel onion and garlic in large shallow roasting tin.  Place the chicken pieces on top and scatter over the tomatoes and olives, then drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive and salt and pepper.

Place in a 400 oven for about 45 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and crispy golden.

The fennel will be soft and the tomatoes collapsed. Near the end of the cooking time cook the pasta in a large pot until al dente, then drain. Remove the chicken and set aside and keep warm. There should be a fair amount of juices in the bottom of the roasting tin.

Pour to the contents of the roasting tin on to the pasta.

Mix in most of the Parmesan cheese and serve.  To serve the chicken place the arugula on platter drizzle with the lemon juice and remaining olive oil then place the crispy chicken pieces on top.

This is all you need chicken, salad and pasta a delicious and easy meal.

This was a fair amount of pasta and none of us are big pasta eaters, so the left overs were used again a couple of nights later with the addition of some Italian sausage. Two meals for the price of one!