40 Cloves Garlic Chicken

Don't you just love the glow from the Christmas tree? We do. It just creates this feeling of warmth and comfort all about the house.

And to go with that feeling some food that is warm and comforting always sounds good. 

We had a lot of garlic to use before it went bad. We just love how convenient buying garlic already peeled and ready to go is from the Asian market. But it's a lot of garlic to be used by just 2 people. And most often it just gets thrown out before it all gets used but this time we decided to make sure to put it all to good use in a 40 clove garlic chicken recipe.

Sautéing this garlic after browning the chicken in the dutch oven smelled and looked fabulous.

And the chicken was deliciously flavorful and warming. Don't let the 40 cloves of garlic fool you. The garlic becomes soft, sweet and mild. Just perfect. Not at all overpowering.

We served our delicious chicken with Parmesan polenta and wilted spinach. A great Monday night meal.

Recipe

40 Cloves Garlic Chicken ( adapted from Ina's Garten's recipe linked here)

40 cloves of garlic

1 1/2 lbs. chicken thighs

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons Brandy divided

1 1/2 cups white wine

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

2 tablespoons flour

tablespoons heavy cream

Dry the chicken with paper towels. Season liberally with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat the butter and oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. In batches, sauté the chicken in the fat, skin side down first, until nicely browned, about 3 to 5 minutes on each side. Turn with tongs. When a batch is done, transfer it to a plate and continue to sauté’ all the chicken in batches. Remove the last chicken to the plate and add all of the garlic to the pot. Lower the heat and sauté for 5 to 10 minutes, turning often, until evenly browned. Add 2 tablespoons of the Brandy and the wine return to a boil, and scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Return the chicken to the pot with the juices and sprinkle with the thyme leaves. Cover and simmer over the lowest heat for about 30 minutes, until all the chicken is done.

Remove the chicken to a platter and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of the sauce and the flour and then whisk it back into the sauce in the pot. Raise the heat, add the remaining tablespoon of Brandy and the cream, and boil for 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper, to taste; it should be very flavorful because chicken tends to be bland. Pour the sauce and the garlic over the chicken and serve hot.