Orange Fennel Chicken with Black Olives / Zeytinli Portakalı Tavuk ve Rezene

Writer's Note: It is really cold in Berlin. There is snow on the ground, my heaters are cranked to high, and yet, I am still freezing here in my new apartment in Kreuzberg. In honor of sunnier places and a yearning for the Mediterranean, here is a new recipe.

Ingredients:

2-3 large chicken legs, or other chicken parts

1 navel orange, half squeezed, half sliced into thick slices

1/3 cup olive oil

2-3 fennel bulbs, peeled and quartered

1/2 cup black olives

1 tsp. Aleppo pepper

1 tsp. dried mint or Herbs de Provence

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. fresh pepper

Directions: Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Mix olive oil, spices, and orange juice as marinade. Rub the marinade on the chicken and fennel pieces. Line the bottom of a deep baking rack with aluminum foil and lay the chicken pieces and fennel pieces in the bottom. (If using chicken breasts, lay them breast side down for the first 50 minutes of baking.) Surround with the orange slices. Pour the remaining marinade over the chicken and fennel. Bake chicken for 10 minutes at 500 degrees and then lower temperature to 350 degrees. Bake for another 50 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Ten minutes before the chicken is finished, add the olives to the bottom of the pan. If the chicken skin has not crisped, turn the broiler on for 5-10 minutes until skin is crisp. Serve with drippings spooned over the chicken and fennel.