Penne Rigate with Fennel and Chicken

I love fennel me. Even more so when I can go to the garden and pick them myself. Okay, they are not the fattest bulbs, but when I chopped them up the wonderful mild anise aroma just filled me with joy.
(and I don't even like anise very much ).  Fennel is more subtle and sofisticated, anyway ;-) .

So here is a simple tasty meal I made. Did I tell you ? They're straight from the garden.

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 3 fennel bulbs, roughly chopped
• 50 grs (or more) lardons (or pancetta if you're richer)
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 glass (25cl) chicken stock
• 150 to 200 grs cooked chicken pieces
• seasoning
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• fennel green, chopped
• 4oo grs penne rigate, cooked al dente
• morsels to taste of Roquefort or any other blue cheese you might fancy, but grated parmesan works too.

Preparation

• In a pan, fry off the lardons and set aside.
• Pour olive oil in same pan and sautee the garlic - without burning !
• Add the fennel and sautee some more, you can add a little of the stock to prevent it from burning.  Lid on.
• When fennel has reached the al dente stage, pour in the rest of the stock and the lemon juice.
• Add the chicken pieces and heat through thoroughly.
• Season with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
• Stir in the freshly cooked penne, lemon zest, spring onions, fennel green and of course the lardons.
• Serve and sprinkle (or bomb) with morsels of Roquefort.

 I was contemplating to add cream but then thought  "Nah ! Don't be a pig !"

Thank you for visiting.
Patricia xxx...x