The old, the classic, reconsidered: chicken thighs with lots of garlic

Ragazzi, perhaps you know of a French classic "farmhouse" dish.  Annalena, who seems to be having trouble with ALL languages these days, will not attempt to render the correct French title; however, it is called "chicken with 40 cloves of garlic."  What you are to do is to take a roasting fowl, peel 40 cloves of garlic, and put them under the skin of the bird, all over.  You then roast it as usual, and when you serve it forth, the garlic, soft and sweet, is spread on toast to eat with the bird.

It is, to be honest, amazingly good.  Peeling 40 cloves of garlic is not for the impatient however, or those with manicured nails.  Hence, that is why one has staff.

OOPS.  Annalena meant friend.

Well, roasting a bird and stuffing 40 cloves under it is all well and good for the weekend.  Recently, David Tanis ( who is rapidly becoming Annalena's favorite in print cook), presented a modified version of the recipe, using what he calls "new garlic."

Now, to explain.  MOST of the garlic we use is dried garlic.  It is grown, stored, and dried, and it has the strong, familiar flavor we know when we buy it in the store.  However, as you will know from this blog, at the start of the garlic season, we have "green garlic," which is one of the Guyman's favorite ingredients.  At this time of year, we have "NEW" garlic.   This stuff is not nearly as pungent as the dried,  is easy to peel, and is very, very good.  And that is what you are going to use here.  This is a perfect weekday supper.  It takes so little time to make, and so little work, you may very well faint from the simplicity.  If you do, have someone push some garlic under your nose to resurrect you.    Let's begin.


First, preheat your oven to 375, and get a nice heavy pot.  You all know that Annalena prefers her Le Creuset, and its perfect for this.  You want one which is wide enough to hold 3 pounds of chicken thighs, rather than a whole chicken, cut up , which Mr. Tanis recommends, in one layer.  If you happen to remember, let the chicken sit, uncovered and salted and peppered in the refrigerator, overnight.  If not, BAD CHILDREN.  You will then have to pat the pieces very dry, and we'll get to work.

Chop up enough onion to have two cups of evenly sized pieces.  Melt two tablespoons of butter in that pan, at medium high heat, and add the onions.  Toss in about a teaspoon of salt, and cook them, stirring every couple of minutes, until they begin to brown.  It will take about five minutes.

Meanwhile, get - ready for this, ragazzi?  - SIX BULBS of fresh garlic, and slice them right down the middle.  It's pretty easy to see where to do it. If there's any stem, cut it away.    If you can rub some paper off of them, fine.  If not, don't worry, no need to peel.

When the onions are cooked, add the garlic halves.  Put the chicken thighs , skin side up, right on top.  Add a cup of white wine, a cup of water,  and add about six sprigs of fresh thyme to the top.  Put a cover on your pot, and put it in the oven for half an hour.   In that half hour, the chicken will stew.  Then, take the cover off, increase the temperature to 425, and cook for another ten minutes or so, to brown the meat.  Truth to be told, however, this is never going to get golden brown.  And that's ok

You are left with an  EXQUISITE sauce and some very tasty chicken.  You can eat it right away, or you can let it sit in the fridge, overnight, and take the fat off the top before you warm it up (Remember that thighs have a lot of fat in them).

To Annalena, all that will do for this is rice, or even better, mashed potatoes.  Not too rich here, this chicken, so go to town with your starch.  And make sure you savor those garlic cloves.  Save the ones you don't eat, and use them somewhere else.  Use your imagination, that's what it's for, as the Madonna told us.

MANGIA