Garlic: Stat

So if you read last week's post, there's no surprise about this week's: chicken thighs in garlic and lemon.  To the extent that not having garlic in the house was a crisis, obtaining some became an emergency.  A house without garlic is simply not a home--or at least any kind of home I'd want to live in.   It's like culinary feng shui--without garlic, there is an emptiness in the kitchen that generates negative energy.  Suffice it to say we were without garlic for less than two hours--long enough so that I could not make the recipe that I wanted to, but short enough that our house was still invulnerable to  neighborhood vampires. Now that the garlic stores have been replenished, equilibrium has been restored, evil spirits are at bay, and all is right in my world.

Garlic Chicken  

1.  8-12 chicken thighs on bone or 6 leg quarters cut up, skinned.  You are going for the dark meat here.  Set aside.


2.  3-4 potatoes peeled and sliced into 1/4" thick pieces.  Layer a large Pyrex roasting pan with the potatoes.

3.  Crush a whole bulb of garlic in a large bowl.  Put a note on the kitchen bulletin board to buy more garlic, because it really is a problem when you run out.  

4.  Add about 1/4 cup olive oil to the garlic and the juice of two lemons.  Add salt and pepper.  Mix well.

5.  Add the chicken thighs and coat them well with the garlic mixture.  Place over the potatoes.

6.  Bake on 350 degrees for about one and a half hours.  Check to make sure the internal temperature of the chicken registers at about 180 degrees.  Remove the chicken from the pan.  Stir the potatoes with the pan juices, and broil for about 3-5 minutes to get the potatoes a little crispy and brown. 

Before

After

7.  Take the garlic pact:  if you eat this dish, anyone you intend to kiss has to have eaten it too.