Spring Chicken

Photo: flickr user >>>WonderMike<<<

Ingredients

1 free-range chicken (2 to 3 pounds

cup fresh thyme leaves

cup fresh savory leaves

1 head garlic

2 tablespoons coarse gray sea salt OR 1 tablespoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use

2 lemons, divided use

3 mediums artichokes

2 bulbs fennel

8 ounces kalamata olives

cup chicken broth, divided use

2 cups long grain rice

Preparation

Cut chicken at joints, leaving skin on, and place in bowl. With mortar and pestle, grind thyme, savory and garlic to a fine paste. Add salt, pepper and 1/4 cup olive oil. (Or grind in a food processor, adding olive oil as machine runs.)

Add herbs to chicken; mix and set aside, covered in refrigerator, to marinate at least 2 hours.

In another bowl, squeeze 1 lemon and fill bowl with cold water. Using a sharp knife, cut bottom inch off stem of 1 artichoke, remove outer leaves until you reach yellow leaves and cut off top points. With a vegetable peeler, start from bottom of artichoke and peel stem where you removed leaves. Cut artichoke in half lengthwise; remove choke (fuzzy part) with spoon or melon baller and cut in half again. Immediately put artichoke in lemon-water; repeat for remaining artichokes.

Cut tops off fennel, reserving some fronds for garnish. Cut off root ends.

Remove outer layer and cut bulbs in half lengthwise on flat side. Cut remaining lemon into 8 pieces and remove seeds.

Heat a large braising pan with flat straight sides over high heat. Add remaining 1/4 cup olive oil and heat until it starts to smoke. Using tongs, add chicken pieces and sear, turning quickly to keep garlic from burning and to seal in juices. Let chicken cook 1-2 minutes, then add fennel. Add lemon pieces.

Drain artichokes and add to pan with olives. Add 3 cups chicken broth and let boil. Reduce to low-medium heat; cover and cook about 1 hour.

When chicken is half done, rinse rice and place in large saucepan with 1 1/2 cups chicken broth and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil; cover and reduce to a simmer. Let cook 15 minutes or until liquid has been absorbed. Stir to fluff, remove from heat and let stand, covered, 5 minutes. Serve chicken mixture over rice.