40 CLOVES GARLIC ROAST CHICKEN

You so got to try this...

This simple old French Classic is such a outstandingly great dish, succulent lightly garlic infused roast chicken with a gorgeous white wine and herb infused stock liquor and the wow factor is the toasted sour dough slices that you squeeze out the whole roasted garlic cloves purée, paste on the toasted bread then dip this giant creamy garlic crouton in to that gorgeous white wine roasted chicken stock, unbelievably off the chart !  The home smells divine and everyone’s eagerly awaiting dinner.  

Prep time 10 minutes / Cooking time 2kg Chicken 1hr 20mins 

Resting time 20-30 minutes 

Ingredients 

(serves 4-6)

2kg Organic Chicken 

40 whole cloves garlic unpeeled

2 carrots roughly chopped

2 sticks celery roughly chopped

2 onions quartered unpeeled

2 sprigs rosemary

6 sprigs thyme

8 stems parsley

250ml dry white wine

200ml water or homemade chicken stock

Olive oil

25g butter

Himalayan sea salt 

Black pepper

Pre heat your oven to 200 C / 392 F,  place the carrots, celery and onions in the bottom of a casserole dish, put a sprig of thyme, parsley and rosemary along with 6 cloves of garlic in to the cavity of the chicken, add the remaining herbs to the casserole dish, place the chicken in to the casserole dish, rub with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, sprinkle over the garlic cloves, add the white wine and chicken stock and that’s it, pop on a lid and place in the oven until the juices run clear when the thigh is pierced or when your food probe reaches 65-68 C / 147 F.  If you want crispy skin then remove the lid for the last 30 minutes.  Once cooked leave to rest for 30 minutes.

The Stock Gravy

After 20 minutes of resting strain off the cooking liquid in to a saucepan, reserve all the whole garlic cloves to one side, Squeeze out half the reserved garlic purée cloves in to the stock gravy, bring the gravy to a rapid boil and reduce by one third, take off the heat, add the butter and taste for seasoning, that’s your gravy done.

Garlic Croutons 

Slice your sour dough bread thin, drizzle with a hint of olive oil and bake in the oven for 10 minutes turning over half way through while the chicken is resting.

To Serve

Serve a generous portion of the garlic cloves with the chicken and croutons, squeeze out the reserved garlic purée cloves on to the croutons and dip these gorgeous decadent croutons in the rich stock gravy and enjoy.  I also serve this meal with quartered savoy cabbage braised in chicken stock and tossed in butter.