Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic

One of our favourite cookbooks is Barefoot in Paris by Ina Garten, and although every recipe in it we've tried has been wonderful, our favourite is Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic.

To paraphrase Ina, it may seem that three heads of garlic is a lot, but they do mellow out a lot during the cooking process.

• 3 whole heads garlic, about 40 cloves
• 2 (3 1/2-pound) chickens, cut into eighths
• kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons good olive oil
• 3 tablespoons Cognac, divided
• 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream, optional

Separate the cloves of garlic and drop them into a pot of boiling water for 60 seconds. Drain the garlic and peel. Set aside.

Dry the chicken with paper towels. Season liberally with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat the butter and oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. In batches, sauté the chicken in the fat, skin side down first, until nicely browned, about 3 to 5 minutes on each side. Turn with tongs or a spatula; you don't want to pierce the skin with a fork. If the fat is burning, turn down the heat to medium. When a batch is done, transfer it to a plate and continue to sauté it all the chicken in batches. Remove the last chicken to the plate and add all of the garlic to the pot. Lower the heat and sauté for 5 to 10 minutes, turning often, until evenly browned. Add 2 tablespoons of the Cognac and the wine, return to a boil, and scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Return the chicken to the pot with the juices and sprinkle with the thyme leaves. Cover and simmer over the lowest heat for about 30 minutes, until all the chicken is done.

Remove the chicken to a platter and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of the sauce and the flour and then whisk it back into the sauce in the pot. Raise the heat, add the remaining tablespoon of Cognac and the cream, and boil for 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste; it should be very flavorful because chicken tends to be bland. Pour the sauce and the garlic over the chicken and serve hot.

We omit the cream and butter quite easily to accommodate family members with dairy allergies. It's perfectly fine that way, but please don't be tempted to omit the Cognac!