Cooking with my cousin, Lisa Lombardi, is so much fun! She challenged me to come up with a great garlic-y chicken recipe which I was more than happy to take on.
I remembered MANY years ago, a friend had asked the same thing of me and I’d found some recipe that used 40… yes FORTY cloves of garlic and I remember it had such a smooth, mellow, nutty garlic flavor… oh yes!
I did a little research and I saw many renditions of a similar dish. I created this one and love it the best because it’s so easy. You can choose to peel all those cloves if you like, but I like the little nuggets oozing out of their skins while the dish cooks. Yum!
Garlic is one of my favorites. It is related to shallots, leeks, chives, and the mighty onion! It originated in Asia and has been used for THOUSANDS of years as a food flavoring ingredient and as medicine. It has also been used to ward off Dracula so it’s very powerful indeed.
As we know, it’s flavor can be intense. A bite of raw garlic today has it’s aroma coming out of your pores tomorrow. Ha! But when cooked, it saves your breath and your body, adding such delightful notes to so many dishes. When roasted, it’s buttery and has such a deepened taste. You don’t really know garlic until you’ve spread roasted cloves over a crusty bit of bread – or made it in this chicken dish!
Serve this dish over a rice pilaf… with a side of sautéed broccoli rabe… with a hunk of delicious bread! If by some chance you have leftovers and take it to work for lunch, you’ll be safe for your afternoon meetings and drive your office crazy with the alluring aroma.
Make it!
Annette
