Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

A classic French-style pot-roast of chicken pieces slow-cooked with a whole heap of unpeeled garlic cloves that turn sweet, soft and mellow.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 whole chicken, jointed into 8 (or 8 chicken thighs)
• 40 cloves of garlic (about 3-4 bulbs), unpeeled

Small bunch of fresh thyme

• 2 tablespoons white vermouth or white wine
• 0.5 teaspoon ground mace or nutmeg
• Salt and black pepper
• Crusty bread, to serve

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4.

1. Heat the oil in a flameproof casserole and brown the chicken pieces all over, then season.
2. Scatter in all the unpeeled garlic cloves and the thyme, and pour over the vermouth.
3. Sprinkle with the mace, then cover tightly with a lid (or a layer of foil and the lid) so no steam escapes.
4. Cook in the oven for about 1.5 hours until the chicken is meltingly tender and the garlic soft.
5. Serve with crusty bread, squeezing the sweet Roasted Garlic out of its skins to spread.

Notes

Based on Nigella Lawson’s Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic (Forever Summer / nigella.com).