I am republishing chicken with 40 cloves of garlic today to celebrate National Garlic Day.

Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic is an old classic with at least 40 ways to make it. Saveur Magazine has a recipe that says you can use up to 100 cloves. Nigella Lawson’s recipe seemed to be the easiest using chicken thighs and not bothering to peel the garlic, and Ina Garten’s recipe seemed the richest. No surprise there.

Don’t you love these women; they have transformed comfort food into sexy food, because it’s good food with no gimmicks, just good ingredients.

I ended up taking most of my inspiration from Nigella because I love chicken thighs and I love her viewpoint, but I did peel the garlic. Probably if I could choose one celebrity chef to cook in the kitchen with, it would be Nigella, because, no matter might happen, it would be fun. I wouldn’t be self-conscious as I might be with Martha.  Nigella has no pretension, doesn’t take herself too seriously,  yet she is fiercely passionate about food.

One might think that using 40 cloves of garlic for a chicken recipe is overkill, but this might be one dish where more is actually more. When garlic is baked and braised in the juices of the chicken, its character changes. The garlic mellows out, and becomes an incredible spread for crusty bread that sops up the juices this dish puts forth. The thighs remained lovely, browned and juicy, but the garlic and juice in the pot are divine.

I enjoy fresh sage at this time of year, and I used chives, fresh sage and fresh thyme (because these herbs grows in my garden). You could choose the herbs you like best. I also love what tarragon and shallots can do for dish. I used chives in place of scallions because it’s what I had on hand.

How to Make Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

Nigella uses thighs on the bone (my favorite); James Beard uses legs. You could do that or even use breasts, but I think dark meat is the right meat of choice, as it will yield a nice amount of fat into the juices. Two thighs per person is a nice portion. Due to the richness of this dish, I recommend a crisp salad with a tart champagne dressing to offset the richness of this dish. Salad and crusty bread, a bottle of wine, and you have a heavenly meal, with a bit of chocolate for dessert, yes, perhaps Pots de Crème.

This is comfort food, healthy comfort food, for garlic is one of those things that is resoundingly delightful to eat, and full of benefits.

The only dilemma in making this recipe is peeling the garlic, so I made you a video showing you how easy it is to do. This is my first video, and there will be lots more to come.

I hope you enjoyed that as it opens the doors to making it so much easier to cook with garlic. I’m in the process of making several how to videos. Which kinds of cooking/baking videos are you most interested in seeing? Follow me on youtube here.

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Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic and Video: How to Peel Garlic in 10 Seconds

Chicken Thighs with 40 Cloves of Garlic and a video showing the easiest way to peel that garlic, so you make this dish again and again. Adapted from Nigella Lawson's recipe.

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 2 hours hours

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 5 1/2 quart dutch oven with lid or baking dish that will hold 8 thighs in one layer.
• 8 chicken thighs on bone with skin
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt pepper
• 40 cloves of garlic peeled
• fresh chives can use scallions, or shallots
• few sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons dry vermouth or white wine
• fresh sage leaves

Instructions

• Season chicken with salt and pepper
• Brown chicken in olive oil in heavy dutch oven. You may need to brown in two batches. Thigh skin is thick; brown well on medium low heat.
• Remove chicken to platter. Set aside.
• Add in herbs and half of the garlic to oil in pot. Add in dry vermouth. Add chicken thighs on top of the garlic. Add in remaining garlic.
• Cover. Bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours.
• Serve with crusty bread.

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The post Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic and Video: How to Peel Garlic in 10 Seconds appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Today the academy awards will commence and I’ve been trying to think of a perfect red carpet drink. I chose the manhattan for its elegance and timelessness.

I was at an intimate blogger dinner a few weeks ago, and while our host was excited to bring us some very good wine, everyone wanted to begin with a cocktail. The choices were inventive without being silly. I got a little taste of each ordered, but my manhattan still won the prize in starting off a memorable evening. I wanted a second, but I knew I was supposed to move over to wine.

The manhattan is one of my favorite drinks. I have a thing for vintage and the manhattan has been around a long time, in fact  its roots stretch back to the old Manhattan Club, in 1874.

The funny thing about a drink like a manhattan is that it is being happily sipped by two distinct age groups, the older side of the baby boomers and millennials.

The barely of drinking age millennial demographic is celebrating not only the artful cocktail, but vintage drinks that go back over a century. They drink more different types of spirits than any other age group and they drink them differently. They grab the manhattans and old fashioneds in social settings and value the entire process, from small batch distilleries, to authentic approaches and (of course) cool glassware. I applaud it, and embrace the cocktail movement, that is doing something quite unique.

The cocktail of today reaches back to history for authenticity and appreciation and is being reinvented in a whole new way with herbs, greens, fruits, botanicals,and hundreds of types of bitters, along with unique simple syrups and sea salts.

This is a manly option, served on the “rock” a square frozen cube. You can shop molds here.

The Elegant Manhattan

Every time I think about manhattans, I think about the time I was a server in college. I served hundreds of manhattans to little old ladies, and back in those days, I kept thinking that maybe this drink had medicinal purposes. It came with a small carafe which gave them 1 1/2 drinks. Those were the days.

The Real Manhattan

The original manhattan is made with rye, sweet vermouth and angostura bitters and some will say that you cannot touch the perfection of this drink.

Perhaps that’s true, but I like bourbon.

The only question remains is what bourbon to use. That’s your choice.  I love several bourbons, but today I’m drinking Blanton’s. I love Four Rose’s, Angel’s Envy, but it’s a long list, because there is a lot of good bourbon to choose from.

Once you decide if it’s rye or bourbon, then make a proper decision to use Luxardo cherries. I can’t have a manhattan without a cherry! Shop Luxardo Cherries here.

You can drink this on the rocks, but I love a drink in a coup glass. I picked these up on amazon, and while the rim is not that delicate, the stem has that vintage look I was searching for. Shop Vintage Coup glasses here.

Stir, do not shake

Shaking this drink will make it cloudy, so stir gently and enjoy.

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Bourbon Manhattan

Course Cocktail

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 oz Bourbon
• 1 oz French sweet vermouth
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• Garnish: Luxardo cherry orange peel

Instructions

• Place bourbon, vermouth, bitters and ice in pitcher.
• Stir. Do not shake, or the drink will get cloudy.
• Garnish with cherry, and an orange peel.

Notes

For a less sweet manhattan, reduce the sweet vermouth.

This post contains affiliate links which may provide a commission from Amazon.

The post Bourbon Manhattan, a Red Carpet Drink appeared first on Spinach Tiger.