40 Cloves and a Chicken - SUCCESS!

I tried a version of this last year and it was an epic fail.  It took me about a year to get up the gumption to try again.  And I thought about it, would Julia Child use a crockpot?  Non! Non! Non!  I could hear her saying to me.  Find your cast iron enameled pot and kick it old school!  (Not sure she would use that phrase but that's what I told myself).  It was a much better experience.

I had gone a little overboard at the grocery one week.  Four grass fed organic chicken legs for less than $4 a pack?!  WHOOPIE!  Takes so little to excite me...I got two packages.  Then I got home and was like – what the heck am I going to do with eight chicken legs...  Then I remembered I wanted to retry the Chicken and 40 cloves.  

Normally, you are supposed to get a whole chicken and cut it in eight pieces but I had eight chicken legs instead.  So I thought ok – one little modification won't kill me.  And so here it goes....

• 8 pieces of chicken – bone in (so use legs, breasts, a whole chicken cut up - what have you)
• 40 cloves of garlic – 3-4 bulbs yields 40.  Peeled (you can buy them already peeled but I cut my own b/c it's fresher and my Aunt would kill me if I used bottled.
• 2T Olive Oil - used to brown the chicken in
• 1/2C Olive Oil - used for cooking it in the oven
• 10 (or a handful) of fresh Thyme – washed and patted dry

This is before - not sprinkle in the garlic so it flavors the chicken evenly

SUPER easy – I think the hardest thing is peeling the garlic. Maybe not hard – but tedious.

• Preheat oven to 350
• Sprinkle the chicken with salt & pepper
• In your cast iron pot (or a saute pan) put the 2 table spoons Olive Oil – heat on medium heat.  
• Then brown the chicken on both sides.  You may have to do this in batches – I couldn't fit all the chicken in the pot at once.
• If you are using the cast iron pot, When you're done browning, take the pot off the heat.  Put all the chicken in the pot, put the garlic in the pot al over the chicken and then put in the thyme.  Then pour in the 1/2C Olive oil.  Cover and put in the oven for 1 ½ hours.
• If you are using a fry pan to brown your chicken – put all the chicken in an oven safe dish that has a cover, follow the above from putting the chicken, garlic, thyme and oil in the dish, cover and into the oven for 1 ½ hr.
• When it's done - take it out of the oven and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.  Poor chicken is tired after all that cooking!

This is how it will look when you take it out of the oven

I served it with wild rice seasoned with ghee, garlic and thyme and Italian green beans but you can make your own sides.

YUM!  And it is paleo & virgin diet friendly.  Gluten free, dairy free, Fabulous!