Poulet Aux Quarante Gousses D'Ail

Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic

In the Provence region of France, garlic is called the poor man's truffle. Well, there's nothing poor about the taste of this dish. It's easy and so succulent. The meat just slides off the bones and the roasted garlic flavor induces you into a French coma. I changed the original recipe of this dish, published in France the Beautiful cookbook, (one of the best cookbook series ever) and added some potatoes to the pot. They absorb all of the chicken and garlic flavor and turn into creamy tasty little morsels. So good, they're almost deadly.

Large enameled pot, big enough to hold the chicken. I use one made by Lodge

1 Chicken, about 3-4 pounds (1.75 kg)

4 sprigs thyme

4 sprigs rosemary

4 sprigs sage

2 celery stalks with their leaves

4 sprigs parsley

40 cloves of fresh, young garlic, unpeeled (to be quite honest, I sometimes use even more)

3 tablespoons of olive oil

freshly ground pepper

2-3 russet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1 inch cubes. I rarely ever peel my potatoes, even when I make fries I the earthiness of  the skins.

For serving: 

Toasted slices of country bread. I like to use a baguette or even an ciabatta

Preheat oven to 400˚F (200 C˚)

Sprinkle the chicken inside and out with salt.

Stuff the chicken with half of the herbs, half of the celery and 4 garlic cloves.

Place the remaining herbs in the pot along with the potato cubes

Add oil, salt, pepper  and the remaining garlic cloves

Roll the chicken in the pot so that the sides are coated with oil. Place the chicken on top to the potato mixture, it's okay to have things on the side of the chicken also.

Cover the pot and bake for 1 hour 45 minutes.

Transfer the cooked chicken to a serving platter and surround it with the garlic cloves and the potatoes.

Skim the fat from the juices in the pot. I do this by pouring the juices into a glass measuring cup, waiting until the oil rises to the top and then using a turkey baster to remove the good stuff from the bottom of the cup and transferring that to a sauce boat.

Serve the chicken hot, accompanied by its sauce and toasted slices of bread. Each diner crushes the garlic to remove the skin and spreads the garlic onto a slice of bread.

Like I said, so good.

Enjoy, A