40 Clove Chicken

I've been meaning to try this recipe for a long time, and also, really just wanted to make a dish using my Le Creuset dutch oven! It doesn't get nearly as much use as it should.

I saw that chicken quarters were on sale this week for 47 cents a pound, so this dish came out to be very cost effective. Don't be scared off by the fact that there are "40 cloves of garlic" in the recipe, because after they cook for an hour and a half, they are sweet and delicious, not spicy like raw garlic. Definitely make this dish with a fresh loaf of bread so you can schmear all the roasted garlic goodness on the bread! We also made a side dish of potatoes and onions with fresh rosemary. So tasty. And so simple to make! I think this dish would be great to make when entertaining, because the whole house smells wonderful, it looks great, and there's little effort involved. Definitely no fuss, that's for sure.

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (broiler/fryer) cut into 8 pieces
  
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 10 sprigs fresh thyme
• 40 peeled cloves garlic
• Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Toss with a 2 tablespoons olive oil and brown on both sides in a wide fry pan or skillet over high heat. Remove from heat, add oil, thyme, and garlic cloves. Cover and bake for 1 1/2 hours.

3. Remove chicken from the oven, let rest for 5 to 10 minutes, carve, and serve.

Browning the chicken on the stove.

Adding fresh thyme and garlic to the pot before putting it in the oven.

When it came out of the oven, the thyme was pretty dried up and the garlic was nice and roasted, with a wonderful caramel color.

mmm...garlic chicken...