When you read the title, you may ask yourself ‘Really, 40 cloves of garlic?’ and the answer is yes, really there are 40 cloves of garlic in this recipe. If you did not know, I love garlic, and I probably cook with it once a day in many of my recipes. The one thing I do not like about garlic is preparing the garlic. It’s a bit tedious, especially depending on the garlic you get, but TRUST ME, the bit of time it takes to prepare the garlic is well worth it with this recipe.
This recipe is loaded with comfort, simple comfort to say the least. Once you tackle the garlic, the rest is easy breezy, plus I have a little hack that may save you some time on skinning the garlic.
This chicken recipe is great any day of the week, and when served up with roasted potatoes and buttery toasted French bread, well you have yourself a real winner here.
Let’s get started. This fed 5.
Ingredients:
- 8 bone-in, skin on chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat
- 40 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 3 shallots, trimmed and coarsely sliced
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- generous amount of salt and cracked black pepper
- 3/4 cup white wine
- 14 oz can of chicken stock
- 6 sprigs of thyme, stems removed
- Toasted French baguette (slice in half, butter, bake until toasted)
- Roasted potatoes, optional but recommended
Start by prepping your ingredients.
If you are roasting potatoes, I used 3 peeled, large yukon potatotes, quartered and cooked in cool, salted water for about 25 minutes. Then drained, roughed up a bit by shaking them in a pan, then using the leftover trimmed chicken fat to create the fat that I finish them in in a large skillet until nicely crisp and golden. These can be served alongside the chicken when ready.
For the garlic, remove 40 cloves from about 3-4 bulbs of garlic, and add them into a medium sized bowl. Get another bowl to cover the bowl of garlic. Shake this vigorously for about 30 seconds or more. Open the bowl and discard all of the paper from the garlic. Peel off remainder that may not have fully been off.
To a large, heavy skillet on medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons of the butter along with the olive oil. Let this come to temperature until it is slightly smoking.
During this time season the chicken, on both sides, with salt and pepper. Give the pan a swirl to mix the butter and oil, then add in the chicken, skin side down, and cook for about 10 minutes, skin side down.
After about 10 minutes, take some tongs or fork, and flip them to the other side to cook for about another 8 minutes.
During this time, prepare your French bread. You want the bread to soak up all of these awesome juices. Dunking your bread, along with spreading this garlic all over it is the real joy here.
Get a large casserole or 9-13 baking dish out as well. Once the chicken is par-cooked after the 8 minutes on the other side, then remove it from the pan and place into the roasting dish, SKIN SIDE UP.
Keep the pan on medium heat, then add the peeled garlic and give it a good swirl in the pan.
Get the garlic nicely coated in the chicken fat, and cook for about 6 minutes or so to give it some color and to make it lightly tender. After about 6 minutes, use a slotted spoon and place the garlic all throughout the roasting dish, nestling them all around the chicken.
Preheat your oven to 350 F.
To the same large skillet, add in the white wine. Raise the heat to a medium-high. Let the alcohol reduce a bit for about 6 minutes, then add in the chicken stock, thyme, and shallots. Season with a nice pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. then pour the sauce into the roasting pan, bringing it up midway onto the chicken. You want the chicken skin to say crisp.
Place into the preheated oven and cook for 55 minutes.
During this time think about them roasted potatoes and toasted French baguette if you haven’t done so already.
Once the chicken is cooked, remove from the oven. Now is the time to cook your bread. Same oven, same temp, and cook for about 10 minutes. Remove, slice, and serve.
Take some chicken, ladle the sauce oven the chicken and potatoes, and grab about 10 cloves of garlic and smear them all over the chicken and bread. The result is something magical. It’s a dish worth serving all year round, and any day of the week. It was devoured. Enjoy!