This is a recipe I have been so intrigued to try for a long, long time. It is in one of my old cookbooks, and I just never got around to it. When we started this challenge, we decided that each of us would get to pick a recipe for the week. This was Paolo’s choice, and I was really excited because I was finally going to be able to try it.
As a dish, it is fairly easy to make. The smells as you cook the chicken, then the garlic, are absolutely wonderful. Now, as for the finished dish…..hmmm. We all decided that it was much too garlicky. My daughter was not so pleased, and Paolo isn’t such a huge fan of garlic as I am. Honestly, we were all not as impressed as what we were expecting. I had high hopes for this. But I think if you switch it up a bit and follow my other cookbooks recipe, it would be less pungent and more velvety. In the book it calls for you to leave the garlic unpeeled and bake the chicken in the oven for an hour and 45 minutes. That said, onto the recipe and our rankings!
Overall taste points: 5.6 / 10
Difficulty: Easy
Availability of Ingredients: Easy to find
3 tbsp olive oil
1 3-4 lb chicken, cut into 8 pieces
Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
40 cloves of garlic, peeled (you can use up to 100 cloves)
1/2 cup dry vermouth
3/4 cup chicken stock
1 tbsp. chopped tarragon ( I used parsley because I couldn’t find tarragon yesterday)
Heat oven to 350F. Heat oil in a 6qt Dutch oven over medium high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper; add to pot and cook, turning once, until browned, about 15 minutes. Transfer to an 8″ x 8″ baking dish; set aside. Add garlic to pot; cook until browned in spots, about 6 minutes. Add vermouth; cook, scraping bottom of pot, until slightly reduced, about 2 minutes. Add stock; boil. Transfer 1/4 of the garlic to baking dish; mash remaining into stock. Pour over chicken, bake until chicken is glazed and tender, 15-20 minutes. Garnish with tarragon. Serves 6-8.
From my kitchen to yours,
Carla
Expat Chef in Barcelona 
I’ve cooked similar chicken and really liked it, but I am a big garlic fan 😉
I think I would have liked it too, I think maybe the method was off…..I am going to give it another whirl without peeling the garlic.
Confession, this is a recipe I’ve always wanted to try too. I imagine the smell is phenomenal and looks incredibly impressive (regardless of the taste!) 🙂
The smell was incredible…..I think it needed to be in the oven longer so the garlic could cook more. Give it a whirl without peeling the garlic and leaving it in the oven longer. I think maybe that would give it a deeper, sweeter taste!
Like others I´ve always wanted to cook this but never have….think it would have to be on a weekend when I´m only seeing my nearest and dearest who wouldn´t mind the garlic breath!
Do you typically like garlicky dishes? I LOVE garlic and have seen this recipe or something similar many times and have wanted to try it out, but 40 sounds crazy even to me!
I ADORE garlic, but it was way too pungent. I think cooking it longer would have helped in that. Like roasted garlic is to die for, I could have a whole head to myself, but this wasn’t anything like it.
My brother recommended a garlic chili chicken recipe the other day and said it made him ‘smell like a beast’. I imagine this would do the same job 🙂 I LOVE anything garlicky though so the more the merrier, sounds delish (and healthy)
I love garlic too, but I don’t think it was the quantity, just the amount of time it cooked. It should have been cooked longer I think! But try it anyway! 🙂
I can imagine your kitchen smelling like a professional one 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thanks Uru, that it did!
this chicken sounds like it was packed full of wonderful garlic flavor – yum! 🙂
It was very very garlicky…..must try it again though, with a reworked recipe! Thanks for stopping by!