I put my husband in charge of this one, he is good at savory cooking. We purchased a whole chicken from Trader Joe’s and it was a little less than 4 pounds. My husband was concerned about the 450 degree heat for 90 minutes and he was right. He decreased the cooking time due to the decreased weight but the chicken was still over cooked. The breast meat came out very chewy almost stringy, maybe it was a bad chicken?
This dish includes 1 small fennel, 2 lemons, 3 shallots and 2 heads of garlic. I think I would have preferred other vegetables. Fennel is not our favorite and the shallots seemed to have almost melted away during the baking. We all enjoyed the broth that came with this dish. We served it with crusty bread and had fun dunking away.
I don’t think this will be a new family favorite. To see what others thought head over to Cook the Book Fridays.
CafeMomCooks 
Yep, this was just “ok” over here too.
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Hmmm…disappointing when it’s not a rave, isn’t it? We liked it fine…I so wanted to put some carrots in there and I will next time. Fennel and Lemon and Garlic sing for us, so we enjoyed it. Yours looks so moist in the photo. The best thing is throwing everything in a pot and instructed not to peek…fine by me!
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Wow…so interesting because I used a chicken from Trader Joe’s as well…cooked it the full time at the suggested temp and all was great 🤷♀️ I thought it was a super simple way to make a chicken…not super flavorful but I loved the hands off cooking and bonus shredded leftover chicken for other dishes. Bummer when it doesn’t turn out great but I always think…on to the next one haha!
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My convection oven does not even get to 450°F, so I have to roast at a slightly lower temperature. My chicken is not dry, but I’m not a fan of its flavor and the lack of browning of the skin. Looks like roasting a whole chicken and getting it right is not as straightforward as it seems.
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I still haven’t made this one (behind!!), but sounds like something was off for a lot of people.
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