Shallots are for babies, onions are for men, garlic is for heroes

We love our garlic here. And not because we've been obsessed with vampires lately. Hello? That was so 2009. But if given the chance, we try to incorporate it as much as possible into what we eat. One exception is if we plan to be in enclosed quarters any time soon --- like say in car on a drive back from L.A. after eating at The Stinking Rose. Not pleasant.

When I saw Alton Brown's recipe for 40 clove chicken, I could not resist making it in my new, beautiful dutch oven.

It's a very easy recipe using a whole chicken cut into pieces, browned in the dutch oven and placed in the oven to cook with thyme, olive oil and lots of garlic. It requires a lot of olive oil but I replaced some of the oil with white wine. After everything is cooked, the garlic is easily smushed with a fork.

Adding more than 40 cloves of garlic is only for the very brave.

40 Clove Chicken
1 whole chicken (broiler/fryer) cut into 8 pieces
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
10 sprigs fresh thyme
40 peeled cloves garlic
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Toss with a 2 tablespoons olive oil and brown on both sides in dutch oven over high heat. Remove from heat, add oil, white wine, thyme and garlic cloves. Cover and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Remove chicken from the oven, let rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes.