Za'atar chicken

I bought some Za'atar spice mix some time ago because Sara Jenkins said she liked it, so I've been wanting to try this roast chicken. She explains that it is a mix of wild dried thyme, sesame seed, sumac and salt. For this recipe, you take 2 Tbl. and mix with 3 Tbl. of butter at room temperature and 4 finely chopped garlic cloves. You smear the butter mixture underneath the skin of the breasts and thighs on a whole chicken. You rub olive oil over the chicken, salt and pepper. You put 1/2 a small peeled onion in the cavity with 4 springs of thyme and a 2-in. strip of lemon peel (skin only, no pith), and more salt and pepper. Tie the legs together and put the chicken on a rack in a roasting pan and pop into a 425-degree preheated oven. Turn the heat down to 350 degrees after 15 min. Baste the chicken with pan juices every 20 min. and roast for 1 to 1-1/4 hrs. (165 degrees internal temperature). Let it sit 10 min. before carving/serving.

The chicken was delicious. It staid very moist. The spice flavor was very subtle -- the mix might be a little old. I had expected more of a Middle East flavor, but the overall effect was so good, that's not really a complaint. I served it with couscous and a braised fennel and tomato recipe from Patricia Wells.

I've gradually come to the conclusion that Patricia Wells is not that great a cookbook author. I met her a couple of times long ago in Paris when I worked for her husband, Walter, at the Herald Tribune and have dutifully collected a number of her books over the years. The Food Lovers' Guide to Paris, which made her fortune, is a nice book and she is a better food writer than cookbook author. I've rarely had anything of hers come out really great, and this fennel recipe from her Provence Cookbook was no exception.

I'm probably just spoiled by other, better writers (Sara Jenkins!), whose instructions are totally reliable and who anticipate any deviations or possible mishaps. In her recipe, Wells has you trim and quarter 2 lbs of fennel bulbs (this was only 2, no surprise), and peel and quarter 2 large onions (I used 2-1/2 medium onions, had 1/2 onion left over from chicken above). You sweat the onions in 1/4 c. olive oil in a covered skillet for 5 min., then add the fennel, cover and cook for another 10 min., add the six peeled and halved cloves of garlic and 1/2 c. white wine and reduce for 5 min. Then add a 28-oz. can of plum tomatoes and cook for 30 min.

This is where the trouble begins. She says to crush the tomatoes to break them up; that doesn't really work. Why not chop them or just get the chopped tomatoes? The sweating had made the onions somewhat tender, but the fennel remained firm and crisp and 30 min. of simmering didn't change that too much. Were these bigger, more mature fennel bulbs than Wells gets in her market in Provence. Perhaps, but a word of warning would have been nice. It's nothing a little more cooking won't fix, but it throws your meal timing off. Also, while you can hardly go wrong with these ingredients, this recipe could use a little pepping up with a herb. I'm hopeful that warming it up and cooking it some more will make it a good second-day dish.

So I'll continue to use her books (I have so many of them!) but will treat her recipes with more skepticism.