Another keeper from The New York Times! We liked this Garlic Chicken Recipe on a cold night.
Garlic Chicken In A Pot
Garlic Chicken In A Pot
New
York Times
WHEN
I was just starting out in the kitchen -- a young woman with expensive pots, no
experience and an ambition to cook in the grand manner -- a friend of mine, an
older, wiser man who had notched decades behind a stove, gave me this advice:
''Before you attempt soufflés and flambés,'' he said, ''master one no-matter-what
recipe.''
My
friend's definition of a no-matter-what recipe was simple: it was a dish that
would be good no matter what the occasion (and with whom you were sharing it);
no matter what you added or subtracted (No potatoes? Skip them or use turnips)
and no matter what little mistakes you made (like forgetting it in the oven for
an extra half hour).
The
foolproof recipe I chose, which I have been playing theme-and-variation with
ever since, is chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. It is a version of the
time-honored chicken in a pot, in which the entire meal -- chicken, vegetables
and resulting sauce -- is cooked in a pot and, if you like, served in the pot,
the better to keep all those dunkable cooking juices hot. It is a dish made for
crusty bread and a lot of wine, and one for which the term comfort food might
have been invented.
The
first chicken in a pot I made came from Richard Olney's cookbook ''Simple
French Food'' (Atheneum, 1974). Mr. Olney, an American painter who moved to
Provence and became an almost cult culinary figure, gives a recipe for garlic
chicken, instructing the cook to put a cut-up chicken in a casserole with 40
cloves of unpeeled garlic, two-thirds of a cup of olive oil, salt, pepper,
dried herbs and a bouquet garni.
The
casserole is sealed with a flour-and-water paste and slid into a 350 degree
oven to cook for one hour and 45 minutes. When the seal is broken at the table,
that first puff of fragrant steam is intoxicating.
I
loved that dish. I could put it together blindfolded in 10 minutes and it was
always delicious. But it became even more delicious when I started tweaking it.
One day I added potatoes, the next carrots. When I had leeks, they went into
the pot, as did green beans, red peppers, shallots, celery root, parsnips or
fresh herbs. Sometimes I would add one vegetable, sometimes lots more.
I
was certain I had savored garlic chicken in every guise imaginable when I came
across a version by Antoine Westermann, the Michelin three-star chef from
Alsace, France. In his incarnation, the chicken is whole, and it and the
vegetables are browned before they are nestled in the pot. The liquid for the
dish is white wine, chicken broth and olive oil, the herbs are fresh, and
everything is enlivened by small squares of zest from a salt-preserved lemon, a
genius addition to the recipe. This dish looked better than the original when
the lid was lifted, and the lid was lifted in less time: Mr. Westermann's
chicken cooks at 450 degrees for just 55 minutes. I dabbled with the new recipe
as well, and I realized again how flexible this dish is. There are five
variables -- the pot, the chicken, the vegetables, the liquid and the
temperature -- and if you stay close to the spirit of the original with each,
the recipe will be a success.
For
the pot, look for heft and a lid. My favorite chicken-in-a-pot pot is Le
Creuset's casserole made of enameled cast iron, but any lidded Dutch oven or
large heavy pot, even an earthenware casserole, will do.
Your
choices for the chicken are basic: whole or cut up. I think a whole bird looks
a little dressier than pieces, but a whole chicken needs to be quartered before
serving, while pieces go from oven to table nonstop. Pieces have another
advantage: You can fit more than one chicken in a pot. Whichever you choose,
you can brown the chicken before you cook it -- or not.
The
vegetables are the most variable of variables, both in terms of kind and
quantity. In general, root and hearty vegetables are best for this dish; think
carrots, potatoes (white or sweet), some kind of onions (shallots or cippoline
or quartered yellow onions), turnips, parsnips, celery root, winter squash or
artichoke hearts (peeled Jerusalem artichokes work well, too).
I
tend to go overboard on the vegetables because I like the way they cook to a
sweet, caramely softness and am happy to have double-size portions to spoon
out.
Of
course, you can also follow Richard Olney's recipe, which has no vegetables
(although artichokes are an option).
As
for the liquid, you can keep it simple and use just olive oil, or go with my
new favorite, Mr. Westermann's oil, broth and wine mélange. Similarly, I've
decided I like Mr. Westermann's high-temperature cooking method. In fact, I
liked everything about Mr. Westermann's rendition of my beloved chicken in the
pot so much that the instant I read the recipe, I ditched my plans for dinner
that night and made his dish.
As
I passed a plate to a friend, he said, ''Doesn't this remind you of Richard
Olney's garlic chicken? I think you should call it garlic chicken, the next
generation.''
He
was right, but if it is the next generation of anything, for me it is the next
generation of a great no-matter-what recipe.
INGREDIENTS
½
salt-preserved lemon, rinsed well (see note)
¼
cup sugar
⅓
cup olive oil
16
small peeled potatoes (white or sweet) or 2 large peeled potatoes, each cut
into 8 pieces
16
small onions or shallots, peeled and trimmed
8
carrots, peeled and quartered
4
stalks celery, trimmed and quartered
4
heads garlic, cloves separated but not peeled
Salt
and freshly ground pepper
3
sprigs fresh thyme
3
sprigs Italian parsley
2
sprigs rosemary
1
chicken, whole or cut up
1
cup chicken broth
½
cup white wine
About
1 1/2 cups flour
PREPARATION
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Remove zest from preserved lemon and cut zest into small squares; save pulp for
another use. Bring 1 cup water and the sugar to a boil, drop in zest and cook 1
minute; drain and set aside.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil
in a large skillet over high heat. Add vegetables and garlic, season with salt
and pepper and sauté until brown on all sides. (If necessary, do this in 2
batches.) Spoon vegetables into a 4 1/2- to 5-quart lidded Dutch oven and stir
in herbs and lemon zest.
3. Return skillet to heat, add
another tablespoon of oil and brown chicken on all sides, seasoning it with
salt and pepper as it cooks. Tuck chicken into casserole, surrounding it with
vegetables. Mix together the broth, wine and remaining olive oil and pour it
over chicken and vegetables.
4. Mix flour with enough hot
water (about 3/4 cup) to make a malleable dough. On a floured surface, work
dough into a sausage; place dough on rim of casserole. Press lid onto dough to
seal casserole. Bake 55 minutes. To break seal, work the point of a screwdriver
between pot and lid. If chicken is whole, quarter it. Chicken may be served in
the pot or arranged with vegetables on a serving platter.
