Our guest for this recipe was the CEO of Eastern Health, Vickie Kaminski. Vickie not only told us about the challenges of running a huge health care organization but also shared stories about travelling the world and tasting the foods of other cultures. Just recently she told me she still receives comments and questions about Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic. Ah, the power of television.
Ingredients
- 40 cloves garlic, peeled
- canola oil
- salt and pepper
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) olive oil
- 4 tbsp (60 ml) butter
- 4 lb (1.5 to 2 kg) chicken, cut into pieces
- 2 shallots, peeled and chopped
- ¼ cup (60 ml) white wine
- ½ cup (125 ml) chicken broth
- ½ tsp (2 ml) rosemary
- ½ tsp (2 ml) thyme
- 1 bay leaf
How to Make It
- Preheat oven to 400 F (200 C). Place garlic in baking dish. Mix with small amount of canola oil. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and roast in oven for 30 minutes, stirring the cloves after 10 minutes. Remove cover and bake for further 10 minutes. Remove cloves from dish.
- Heat olive oil and 2 tbsp (30 ml) butter in large frying pan on medium high. Cook chicken pieces in pan until golden. Remove chicken from pan and place in baking dish. Discard all but 1 tsp (5 ml) of fat from frying pan. Add shallots to pan and cook for few minutes until soft. Add wine and broth to pan. Stir and scrape to incorporate brown bits from base of pan. Add garlic, rosemary, and thyme. Stir. Preheat oven to 450 F (235 C).
- Pour contents of frying pan over chicken in baking dish. Add bay leaf. Place in oven and roast for 20 minutes. Check internal temperature of chicken with a meat thermometer. When temperature reaches 160 F (70 C), the chicken is cooked.
- Remove chicken from baking dish and strain cooking juices into saucepan. Reserve 12 of the cloves and work through sieve to make paste. Put remaining cloves with chicken. Heat juices on medium. Whisk garlic paste into juices and then the remaining butter to make sauce. Season. Serve chicken and garlic cloves with sauce.