40 Clove Chicken

If you like garlic, this is the meal for you. Whoo-doggie.


The only hard part of this dish is having enough patience to peel 40 cloves of garlic (that’s about 3 heads worth). Thankfully, the trick of boiling the cloves for 60 seconds and then draining it makes the task a million times easier than trying to smash each clove and pick out all the paper from the mess. I also think there is a lot more visual impact to the dish when presented with whole cloves of garlic; that way there is no question as to what is in the dish.


If you hate garlic, I might steer away from this dish. But if you only think you don’t like it, I’d suggest giving this recipe a try. A lot of times people do not like garlic because they’ve either had it raw or burnt. I love raw garlic, but it is definitely a pungent taste, one which many people don’t enjoy. And burnt garlic, ick. There is no coming back from that one. But cooking the garlic over low heat for a long period of time is a beautiful thing. Roasted cloves will be brown, but not burnt, and the taste will transform from sharp to sweet as the sugars begin to caramelize. They also get soft – soft enough that you can grab a clove, put it on a piece of toast, and spread it with a knife as you would butter.


There are a lot of strong flavors in this dish, inclusive of the garlic, so I wouldn’t recommend eating this before meeting your blind date for the evening. This would be more of a third-date sort of meal.


Definitely serve this with some crusty bread, the sauce and garlic pieces are just too good to abandon on your plate.

40 Clove Chicken

Adapted From Ina Garten via FoodNetwork.com

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 4 ounces chicken, 2 tablespoons sauce, 5 garlic cloves, and 3 bread slices)
Ingredients 1 lb boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts, pounded thin
½ tablespoon butter
½ tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
½ Tbsp (1/2 teaspoon) salt
½ Tbsp Thyme
½ Tbsp Sage
½ Tbsp Rosemary
1 Bay Leaf
1 Tbsp Flour
1 ½ Tbsp Cognac/Brandy
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
20 garlic cloves, peeled
(1 1/4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth)
¾ cup dry white wine
12 (1/4-inch-thick) slices diagonally cut French bread baguette
Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (optional)
Directions Boil garlic cloves for 60 seconds. Drain and Peel.
Remove and discard giblets and neck from chickens. Rinse chickens with cold water; pat dry. Trim excess fat; remove skin. Cut each chicken into 8 pieces.
Combine butter and oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle salt and pepper evenly over chicken. Add half of chicken pieces to pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken.
Reduce heat to medium. Add garlic; sautee garlic for 5-10 minutes until evenly browned. (cook 1 minute or until garlic begins to brown, stirring frequently.) (Arrange chicken on top of garlic.) Add wine and 1 Tbsp cognac/brandy, bring to a simmer and scrape bottom of pan (Add broth and wine;) Return chicken to pan, sprinkle with thyme, sage, rosemary and add 1 bay leaf, cover and simmer (cook) 15 (25) minutes or until chicken is done.
Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour and 1/4 cup sauce from pan then whisk it back into pan. Add remaining cognac. Cook 3 minutes and salt and pepper to taste. (Increase heat to medium-high; cook 10 minutes or until liquid is reduced to about 1 cup.) Serve sauce and garlic with chicken and bread. Garnish with chopped parsley, if desired.

Want to Wine and Dine But Short on Time? (Recipe – Rack of Lamb in Red Wine Sauce)

Getting a puppy has been such a huge blessing and source of joy for my hubby and I, but it is also not without its challenges. With Cody, we’re always trying to make sure he’s staying out of trouble, and we don’t give him free reign of the house yet; he’s a bit of a chewer – mostly on his toys, but sometimes on slippers, socks and chairs - and is still not 100% housebroken. He is usually pretty good about letting us know when he has to go outside, but he still has the rare ‘whoops’ moments.

Our weeknight dinner routine hasn’t really changed much since getting Cody; our quick and easy recipes still deliver satisfying meals in minimal time. However, I have noticed a change in my weekend cooking routine. Before Cody, when we would plan for a date night, I would almost always want to be in the kitchen a majority of the day preparing the meal. I enjoyed doing so, and I know it was appreciated.

Now with the puppy, our date nights have been mostly pushed aside. Instead of spending all of Saturday afternoon in the kitchen, we’re spending our time playing fetch, going for walks and doting on our puppy. So even on the weekends I would just be pulling dinner ideas from my typical weeknight repertoire.

Though my priorities in time management have shifted, I am realized that doesn’t have to mean we sacrifice our date nights. I needed to figure out how I could make a nice meal suitable for a romantic evening but still have time to spend with my family. So what can you prepare that sets a romantic vibe with limited time? This dish.

This meal only takes a little longer than my typical weeknight dinner menu items, but we are definitely setting the tone of a “Date Night” by straying a little from our typical weeknight proteins like chicken breast and pork chops, and splurging a little bit on things like filet mignon, or a rack of lamb. This meal is so deceptively simple, you’ll feel like you could have easily ordered it at a fancy restaurant, but you can take pride in knowing that you made it yourself, and didn’t spend your entire day in the kitchen. This meal produces maximum results with minimal effort.

The other thing I do on date night is that I plate the food for each of us as if we were getting it served to us from a restaurant. So, instead of seeing the dirty serving dishes sitting between me and my husband (which only leads me to thinking about having to wash them), I can just look across the table and see only food, wine, and my husband. The only thing left to do is to simply enjoy my lovely evening (and dinner!) with the hubby. I paired this with rosemary potato wedges and roasted carrots.

Leave the dishes in the sink. Nothing kills the ‘Date Night’ vibe like being up to your elbows in dirty dishes and soapy water, especially after a glass of wine (or two!). They won’t go anywhere. One night of romance is worth a few dirty dishes in the morning.

Trust me.


Rack of Lamb in Red Wine Sauce
From Online Source

Ingredients:
2 racks of lamb
salt and pepper
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

Sauce
1/4 cup finely chopped onion or shallot
1 cup dry red wine, Pinot Noir is very good
1 teaspoon minced rosemary leaves
1/2 teaspoon minced thyme leaves
1 teaspoon chopped chives
1 cup beef broth
1 to 2 tablespoons butter
salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation:
Heat oven to 400°.
Sprinkle lamb with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place racks of lamb in skillet, meaty side down, until nicely seared. Turn to brown bottoms, letting the racks support each other. Transfer to a foil-lined roasting pan. Place pan in oven; roast for about 20 to 30 minutes.
In the same skillet, sauté onions until tender. Add wine and herbs; simmer briskly until the wine has boiled down to a syrup. Add broth and continue to simmer until reduced to about 3/4 cup. Add the butter; stir. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Serve sauce with the lamb. Makes 3/4 cup.
Cut lamb into portions and serve with the red wine sauce.

Serves 2 to 4, depending on the meat-eaters in your family