Here we come holidays. Here we come cold weather. Here we come comfort food!!! I have had this recipe for a number of years. I have seen it a lot on food websites and I know it is a popular dish – I also know that everyone makes it a little differently. I learned of this recipe back when I was a hospice nurse. I will never forget arriving at a patient’s home to have the smell of 40 cloves of garlic doing their thing in the oven!!! WHOOT WHOOT!! Do you know how hard it is to concentrate on what you are doing when 40 Cloves of Garlic Chicken is cooking in the other room? My patient’s wife said, “I needed some comfort food so I am fixing 40 cloves of garlic chicken and mashed potatoes and I am going to eat until I am so full I can’t move”. My response was, “that sounds like an excellent plan”.
After I left – I had to pull an all night, on-call shift and I thought about that smell all night long. I wished I could have stayed and helped her with eating all that yummy chicken!
On my next visit I asked how her plan went with the lovely smelling chicken she had been cooking. She said, “I ate until I couldn’t move and that worked out well for everyone”. We both had a little laugh. Later during my visit, she came into her husband’s room with a recipe written on a 3×5 card and said, “I knew you would want this”.
Although I have had this recipe for a number of years, I had only fixed it once – and boy, it was delicious. A wonderful rustic taste – wonderful. However, do you know how long it takes to peel 3 heads of garlic!?! I realized the other day, however, that I know a trick for peeling a lot of garlic at one time! Watch the following video and find out how to make this recipe quick work!
PLEASE NOTE – I DO THIS IN A SAUCE POT WITH THE LID ON IT. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE TO METAL BOWLS THAT ARE THE SAME SIZE – I KNOW YOU HAVE A POT WITH A LID!!!! JUST SHAKE THE DICKENS OUT OF THEM!
The garlic peeling trick makes fixing this dinner a whole new proposition.
I think we will be eating A LOT of 40 Garlic Chicken from now on. Once the garlic peeling is no longer a problem – the rest of it just falls into place quickly.
This dish is wonderful served on mashed red potatoes and would be equally good over large egg noodles, rice, couscous – you name it.
40 Garlic Chicken @Loavesanddishes.net
Leftovers – I believe this would freeze well – but honestly, you probably won’t have more left over than what you can just put in the fridge for lunch tomorrow!
40 Garlic Chicken
Let’s Eat Ya’ll.
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him ~ Psalms 34:8
40 Garlic Chicken
- 2 Tbs olive oil
- Pinch of salt
- Pinch of Pepper
- 8 Chicken thighs
- 40 cloves of garlic - whole
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp dried rosemary
- ¼ cup dry white whine
- ¼ Cup chicken stock
- 8 sprigs fresh thyme – tied in a bundle
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 Tbs fresh parsley chopped
- Preheat the oven to 350
- On the stove top, on medium high heat, place olive oil in a dutch oven. Brown the chicken thighs over the medium high heat 2 at a time – allow about 2 minutes per side. Set the chicken aside in a separate dish.
- Add the garlic cloves to the pan and heat until slightly browned – about 2-3 minutes.
- Deglaze the pan by adding the wine all at once – allow to cook for 2 minutes then add the chicken stock.
- Turn off the stove top heat. Add the dried and fresh herbs. Replace chicken into the dutch oven and replace the lid. Put dutch oven into the oven on rack so that the dutch oven is positioned into the middle of the oven.
- Cook x 35 mins. Remove from the oven and allow to rest x 10 minutes. Do not remove the lid.
- After 10 minutes, remove the chicken to a place and cover with an aluminum foil tent and replace the dutch oven onto the stove top on medium low heat
- Add the heavy cream and allow to cook until the sauce in the pan has thickened slightly – about 5 minutes. Remove the fresh thyme and rosemary sprigs.
- Pour cream sauce with garlic cloves over the top of the chicken, sprinkle with the chopped fresh parsley and serve immediately.
delish
And now for a post blog dessert…
Thanksgiving is coming and it has made me really think about what I am thankful for.
1. My relationship with God.
2. My husband – he puts up with a lot and I love him dearly.
3. Healthy and happy children who are growing into responsible and lovely adults.
4. My family as a whole.
5. My home.
6. My day job – I have a wonderful job where I get to help people, work with some other amazing nurses and most delicious of all – I get to work from home on a 4 day work week. That has made it possible for me to realize my dream of writing this food blog. Thank you day job! (I work for a large insurance company – so see – insurance companies are not all evil!)
7. My church family – I love them.
8. I’m thankful for the goodness of social media – I can think of no other way that I could have maintained/reestablished relationships with my childhood friends in Ohio or my college friends in Tennessee. I also can’t imagine how I would have become friends with other food bloggers all around the globe – can you believe I have some food blogger friends in India, Japan and all across the United States? Well, its true.
9. I am thankful for cotton rag boot socks.
10. Organic Mexican Zargosa Coffee with Raw Sugar and Heavy Cream. So thankful!
Leave me a reply and tell me what you are thankful for! Maybe we can all share each other’s thankfullness! 🙂
This classic dish of 40 Garlic Chicken will delight you and your friends! Besides, the house will smell like heaven! PS- Garlic isn’t that strong when cooked this way. You will love it! Try it this holiday season!
Laura Lynch says
I’ve made this recipe at home, and it is soooooo wonderful. I could just drink the gravy like a soup!
Wendi Spraker says
Thanks Laura! The gravy is the most sought after item at our house too! 🙂