Healthy Recipes Blog

Here’s a great chicken recipe sent to me by a friend. I tried it last week and it’s delicious. Enjoy!

Chicken Garlic Supper - serves 4

Free-range chicken – either a small bird, jointed by the butcher, or 2 chicken pieces per person, skin and bones to remain in place
Olive oil
Butter – a thick slice
Garlic – 6 large, sweet cloves
Herbs – a small bunch of parsley, plus tarragon, thyme or chervil
Wine – a large glass of white wine or dry vermouth

PREPARATION:

1. Rub the chicken all over with a little oil and some black pepper. In a large pan – it can be high-sided or shallow but it must have a lid – warm enough olive oil to give a small puddle at the bottom, then add the butter. Once the butter starts to froth, put in the chicken pieces and keep the heat moderately high while they colour to a pale and even gold.

2. Meanwhile, put the whole unpeeled garlic cloves on a board and, with the flat blade of a knife, squash them so that they flatten but remain fairly intact. Throw them in with the chicken.

3. Turn down the heat so that the fat under the chicken is gently fizzing, then add a little sea salt, cover the pan with a lid and leave to cook over a low to moderate heat. The time it takes to cook will depend on the thickness of your chicken joints, but you should expect them to need about 40 minutes. You’ll have to turn them during cooking so that they colour on all sides.

4. While this is happening, pluck the leaves from the herbs and chop them roughly. Transfer the chicken to a serving dish or warm plates, then fish out the garlic (although the garlic has done its work, it may be sweet and tender and is worth adding to the plate, though the skin should be discarded at some point).

5. Tip most of the fat from the pan – what you’re after is the golden, caramelised juice stuck to the bottom – then turn up the heat, pour in the wine and add the herbs and let it all bubble. Scrape away any stuck bits in the pan, encouraging them to dissolve into the wine with a wooden spoon. Let it bubble away for a minute or two until you have a thin liquor. It should be pale and interesting.

6. Now taste the juice for seasoning – it may need salt, pepper or a squeeze of lemon juice – and spoon it over the chicken.