Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic

This is a delightful dish.  It's comfort food that sounds fancy & it's also incredibly easy to make.  Especially if you buy the garlic cloves already peeled.  (And no, that's not cheating.)  Don't be alarmed by the amount of garlic either.  It cooks into soft buttery deliciousness & for the most part, the cloves melt into the sauce.  In fact, if it wasn't called Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic you would guess it had that much in it.  I make it with boneless skinless chicken breasts because that's what we like to eat.  But Ina Garten's recipe (which I adapted mine from) uses whole chicken pieces.  So use what ever you'd like- white or dark meat, bone & skin on or not.  It will all be delicious coated with this dreamy sauce!

4-6 pieces of Chicken

40 Cloves of Garlic (or 3 whole heads)

1 cup of White Wine (you can substitute Chicken Broth)

1- 1 1/2 cups of Chicken Broth

2 tbsp of Flour

1-2 tbsp Heavy Cream

1 tbsp Butter

2 tbsp Olive Oil?

fresh Flat Leaf Parsley, chopped

Salt & Pepper

In a dutch oven or large chefs pan, add the butter & olive oil.  Heat to medium high heat.  Season the chicken with salt & pepper.

 Add the chicken to the hot butter/ olive oil & cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes per side.

 If you are starting with whole garlic cloves, remove the peels.  To do this easily, you can drop the separated cloves into a pot of boiling water for 60 seconds, drain & then peel.  Or, you can just buy them already done for you in the produce section of most grocery stores.  This is what forty cloves of garlic looks like.  See it's really not that scary now is it?!?

 When the chicken is browned on both sides, remove it from the pot & set it aside. 

 Add the whole garlic cloves to the pot & lover the heat.  Saute for 5-10 minutes, turning frequently until browned.

 Add in the white wine & turn the heat up to boil.  Scrap the bottom of the pan to deglaze, then add in the chicken broth.  If I don't have a bottle of white wine open, then I just use 2 - 2 1/2 cups of chicken broth.  It's good both ways.

 Add the chicken back to the pot along with all of it's juices that accumulated on the plate.  Cover & simmer over medium heat for 30-45 minutes, until the meat is tender.  Mine was almost falling apart it was so tender!

 

Remove the chicken to a plate & cover with aluminum foil to keep warm.

In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid with 2 tablespoons of flour. 

 Whisk the flour mixture back into the pot.  Add in some fresh, chopped flat leaf parsley, the heavy cream, & adjust seasonings if needed. Cook, lightly bubbling, for 3 minutes or until the sauce starts the thicken.  

 Return the chicken to the pot & coat well with sauce.  This easily makes enough sauce for 6 pieces of chicken.  I only cooked 4 pieces since it was just the 3 of us- but trust me, we don't mind having extra sauce!! 

I always make rice, mashed potatoes, egg noodles or something on the side that we can pour more of the delicious sauce over!!

 Yummy!  The chicken is so tender, you won't even need a knife to cut it! 

?