C is for Chicken -- Garlic Chicken

You have not lived until you have had this version of garlic chicken. 

Chicken slow-roasted in the oven in a bath of broth with garlic and onions. The chicken comes out moist, tender and falling off the bone. The garlic and onions give the broth a sweetness and lusciousness that will bring you and your kids back for more. Yummm! It makes me hungry just to write this. 

You can also prepare this dish in a crock pot and let it stew all day. And any leftovers make a fabulous, easy soup for lunch the next day! What could be more perfect?!

I first tasted this dish when my husband and I were dating. It was a cold day at Angerona Farm, a clear, blue sky, crisp breezes, ideal for a crackling fire and comfort food. With Bubba's bread hot from the oven, garlic chicken for dinner was perfection personified. 

All you need for this recipe is a whole chicken cut up, two garlic bulbs, an onion, chicken broth, a lemon and some thyme. Yes, it takes a lot of garlic, but guess who you can recruit to peel all that garlic for this recipe? Your kid! The grandchildren used to delight in trying to peel all that garlic -- especially the tiny little cloves that are well-suited to little fingers. 

So grab a skillet, some tongs and get busy. You will add this to your all-time favorite meals, I promise!


Garlic Chicken

1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
1 lemon, juiced
1 t. dried thyme 
3/4 c. chicken broth OR 1 can chicken broth soup
2 garlic bulbs, cloves peeled and trimmed
1 yellow onion, chopped
Vegetable oil for browning

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Rinse and dry chicken pieces. If breast pieces are very large, cut in half. 

Mix lemon juice and thyme in wide, shallow bowl. Heat 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a skillet, cast-iron works best. 

Dip each piece of chicken in juice, using tongs, turning the pieces over to coat thoroughly, then brown in the skillet. Do the pieces in batches so as not to overcrowd the skillet. Include all the pieces of the chicken, including the back. 

As the pieces brown, place in a large, oven-proof casserole dish, until all the chicken is browned. 

Place the onion in the skillet and saute until it just starts to turn tender. Add all the garlic cloves and saute for a three to four minutes more, until the garlic also just starts to turn tender, making sure you scrape the browned bits of chicken from bottom of the skillet. Don't worry if they don't all come up, they will once you add the broth. 

Add the chicken broth/chicken broth soup to the garlic/onion mixture and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to further loosen the browned bits. As soon as the mixture comes to a boil, turn off the heat and pour the broth over the chicken in the casserole dish.

Cover the casserole and put in the oven for 75 minutes. If using a crock pot, follow the same procedure except leave it on low for the day. 

Remove casserole dish from oven and, using tongs, lift the chicken pieces from the broth onto a large platter with a sloped rim or a large serving bowl. Make sure you remove all pieces of bone from the broth. 

Again, working in batches, pour the broth with the garlic and onions into a blender and puree, or use an  immersion blender. It should turn into a thin gravy consistency. 

Pour some over the chicken on the serving plate; also give each person a ramekin or small bowl of the broth for dipping. 

Serve immediately, and make sure you have plenty of sliced bread -- Bubba's Bread -- for dipping in the broth. 

Now you have lived!