Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

This is a recipe I have been wanting to try for awhile. It is a classic French dish and didn't sound too intimidating. I based my recipe off Ina Garten's, and I think it turned out well!

Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

Ingredients

3 whole heads of garlic, about 40 cloves

12 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

salt and pepper

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup dry white wine

1 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

3 Tablespoons flour

2 Tablespoon heavy cream

Directions

Separate the cloves of garlic and drop them into a pot of boiling water for 60 seconds. Remove garlic from the water and peel. Set aside.

Dry the chicken with paper towels and season liberally with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat butter and oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. In batches, saute the chicken, skin side down first, until nicely browned, about 3-5 minutes per side. Turn with tongs in order to not pierce the skin. Remove chicken from pot and set aside. Lower the heat and add the garlic. Saute for 5-10 minutes, turning often, until evenly browned. Add wine and broth and return to a boil, scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Return the chicken to the pot and sprinkle with thyme leaves. Cover and simmer over the lowest heat for about 30 minutes, until chicken is cooked all the way through.

Remove chicken onto a platter and cover to keep warm. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of the sauce and flour. Then whisk the flour back into the sauce in the pot. Raise the heat, add the cream, and boil until thickened, about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour sauce over chicken to serve.

Amanda's Analysis:

I thought this was delicious! It was very juicy and flavorful. I did wish the garlic flavor would have shown through a little stronger. I think next time I might mince a few cloves before adding them to the pot. I also doubled the sauce ingredients after reading some reviews of this recipe, but I think it was too much for only the chicken. Next time I will also serve this with mashed potatoes and I think this amount of sauce will be perfect. This was a fairly simple recipe with simple ingredients but it tastes delicious. I give this chicken 6 spoons!

John's Jibba-Jabba:

I was expecting way more garlic flavor based on the name of this recipe. If this recipe would have been called chicken with garlic cloves it would have been more understandable. Once the name gets all boastful with exactly how much garlic is used, I have to hold it to a higher standard. Then imagine my surprise when I learned that Amanda did not use 40 cloves at all. She only used 36! To top it off, it was not that she ran out, she just stopped at 36. So disappointing. I will rate this recipe at 5 spoons because it turned out tasty. Though it would be nice to try it with the full 40 cloves, those four cloves might just be enough to earn it another spoon or two.