It’s happened, and earlier than expected this year.

When I left my house for my morning coffee, I felt – sigh – a chill in the air, proving that my decision to put on jeans instead of shorts was a wise one; at an aperitivo the night prior, I made the error of not bringing a jacket, meaning I spent most of the evening shivering (note: I have little to zero tolerance for cold, and in Italian there is even an adjective for me -- freddolosa). As if this weren’t enough, what I recently assumed was rain on the way just turned out to be the sky getting darker, earlier, meaning the days are growing shorter. Translation: Fall is here – it is after all late September -- and it seems like Rome will be skipping its usual stretch of warm weather through to October (did you expect anything less from 2020?!)

Fall and I have a complicated relationship; although I very much welcome the opportunity to use my oven again and cook with ingredients like pumpkin, mushrooms, and apples, I also very much resent the halt to longer days, sunshine, and hot weather. My freckles fade; my sundresses are tucked away in favor of sweaters; I bid adieu to the beach until next year. I find myself at odds with many of my friends who are self-proclaimed Fall People, or rather the ones who skip towards chilly weather and celebrate things like changing Fall leaves and apple picking and autumnal spice candles.

As I go through my annual coming to terms with the inevitability of changing seasons, here is a recipe that toes the line between the end of Summer and the beginning of Fall, a crosscutting sort of dish if you will. Ehem: this is a roast chicken that manages to both harken back to Summer -- with ingredients like end-of-summer plums, sunny lemon, and thyme and basil – and fit in with the Fall, offering cozier, autumnal flavors in the form of fennel, orange, allspice, and honey. What could seem like a busy recipe (I had my doubts) actually makes for a balanced dish with lots of depth and flavor (hurray!) Warm, toasty allspice and fragrant thyme play well with licorice-y fennel seeds and sweet onions, all evened out with a kick from the citrus and complemented by a lots of caramelized, tart sweet plums. If pairing fruit with your chicken sounds odd to you, rest assured it works wonderfully (not so unlike turkey and cranberry sauce or pork and apples). Long story short: think of this as your easing-in-to-Fall dinner, just what you want to eat before taking a deep breath and plunging head-on in to apple muffins and pumpkin pasta and Thanksgiving pies.

A couple of notes: You can also take this in a much more Fall direction and roast this chicken with apples instead of plums, substituting sage for the basil. I think I will also give this a try with fennel instead of the red onion. The recipe as written calls for 4 cloves of garlic; not much of a fan of garlic, I reduced this to two. Do as you see fit. Stay tuned!

Looking for other chicken recipes? I’ve got this pollo alla cacciatora, this pollo con peperoni, this pollo fritto alla Toscana, and these cotolette di pollo. Looking for other recipes with plums? I’ve got this plum upside down cake and this plum cobbler.

ROAST CHICKEN WITH PLUMS

Serves 4. Recipe from NYT Cooking by Melissa Clark

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
2 garlic cloves, finely grated (see notes above)
2 teaspoons honey
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
Large pinch red-pepper flakes, or to taste
1 chicken (about 3 1/2 pounds), cut into parts Kosher salt and black pepper
2 cups (about 3) ripe, soft plums, pitted and cut into 3/4-inch thick slices
6 fresh thyme sprigs
1 medium red onion, peeled and sliced from root to stem in 1/2-inch wedges
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
A handful of basil
Flaky sea salt, for serving

Directions:
Toast the fennel seeds in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Pour seeds into a mortar and pound with a pestle until coarsely crushed (or lay seeds on a cutting board and pound them with a can or jar).

Put the seeds into a large bowl and stir in lemon juice, zest, garlic, honey, allspice and red-pepper flakes.

Season chicken generously all over with salt and pepper and add to the bowl, turning the pieces to coat them with marinade. Mix in plums and thyme sprigs. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.

When ready to cook, heat the oven to 425 degrees. Put the chicken pieces, plums, and thyme sprigs on a rimmed baking pan. Add onions, spreading them out around the chicken and plums. Season plums and onions lightly with salt. Drizzle everything with olive oil.

Roast until chicken is golden and cooked through, 30 to 45 minutes, removing the white meat if it’s done before the dark meat. Transfer chicken pieces as they are done to a platter. Spoon the plums and onions around the chicken. Drizzle a little of the pan drippings over the chicken and serve, garnished with the herbs and flaky salt.