Even before purchasing my french oven, I saw Ina Garten make 40 Clove Garlic Chicken on her show. I've wanted to make it for a few years now. Last week, I saw the perfect opportunity! Instead of Ina's recipe, I decided to use Nigella Lawson's because it seemed a bit lighter.
I went to Trader Joe's and bought scallions, thyme, four heads of garlic, vermouth, par-baked bread, green beans, mushrooms, and a chicken that was already cut up. I started by browning the chicken in my french oven. Then, I removed the chicken, and added the thyme and green onions to the oil in the oven. Then, I threw in half of the cloves of garlic, then added the chicken back in, and then topped with more garlic and thyme. Then, I seasoned with salt and pepper. Then, I put the lid on, and the baked the french oven in a 350 degree oven for 1.5 hours.
While the chicken was cooking, I cleaned and cut the green beans and mushrooms. I chose to cut the green beans and mushrooms in half and to saute them together. The last time I made this side, I didn't boil the green beans first, so some came out really soggy and some were undercooked. I made sure to boil them so they were all even.
While the green beans were boiling, I cooked the mushrooms with olive oil. I only let the green beans boil for a few minutes because I wanted them to stay crisp. After they were done boiling, I added the green beans to the browned mushrooms.
After the chicken was finished, I put the par-baked bread in the oven to crisp up. After 8 minutes, I pulled the bread out, sliced it, and then plated the food. I made sure to scoop extra sauce on top of the chicken so that you could dip your bread in the sauce. When I put the chicken into the oven, there was only a bit of olive oil and two tablespoons of vermouth in the pan. When I pulled it out, all the juices had accumulated in the bottom of the pan. I couldn't believe how much sauce there was! YUM!
I had one happy Scott at the end of the meal.
