marcus@pyuxt.UUCP (M. G. Hand) (08/12/84)
<One for you, and the rest for me...> OK folks, here it is, the ultimate for garlic lovers..... Guaranteed to ward off even the most voracious vampires (do you like the alliteration?) This recipe is plagiarised from an article by Shona Crawford Poole, from the Times (of London), ca. 1980. WARNING BY FRENCH GOVERNMENT: this recipe will not damage your health but is likely to diminish your circle of close friends for a few days. I have prepared this dish on a couple of occasions and have never found it to be other than delicious. The garlic spread on the toast may not be to every- one's taste, though. Marcus Hand (pyuxt!marcus) Now read on... Shona Crawford Poole introduces the article as follows: "People who have not tasted chicken cooked with 40 cloves of garlic understandably find it difficult to believe that the dish is not poisonously strongly flavoured with the stuff. The fact is provided it is made with plump fresh garlic, not the acrid cloves which have been stored too long, the result is especially tasty and not at all pungent." Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic ================================ Serves four. 1 Chicken, 3 to 3 1/2 lb, and its liver 1 bay leaf 1 sprig parsley Salt and fresh ground black pepper 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 oz. butter 40 plump cloves garlic, peeled 4 thick slices white bread, crusts removed Wipe the chicken inside and out and reserve the liver. Put the bay leaf and parsley inside the chicken and season the interior with salt and freshly ground black pepper before trussing it. Heat the oil and butter in a heavy fireproof casserole large enough to hold the chicken without too much room to spare. Brown the chicken lightly on all sides making sure that the butter does not burn. Add the 40 peeled cloves of garlic and a generous seasoning of salt and pepper. Cover tightly and transfer the heated casserole to a pre-heated cool oven (275 degrees F, 140 deg C, gas mark 1). Cook the casserole for about two hours, or until the chicken is tender and the flesh is almost falling from the bone. Remove the chicken to a serving dish and keep it warm while you prepare the garnish. Skim two tablespoons of fat from the casserole and heat in a small saucepan. Roughly chop the chicken liver and saute it in the fat until just firm. Take the cooked garlic from the casserole and mash it with the liver, pressing it through a wire sieve to make a smooth puree. Divide each slice of bread into two triangles. Toast the bread lightly or fry it golden brown in a mixture of olive oil and butter. Divide the garlic and liver puree between the triangles of toast and arrange them around the chicken. Serve very hot with plainly baked or mashed potatoes or with ribbon noodles [ eg fettucine ]. The skimmed pan juices may be served separately as a rich sauce. Enjoy, MGH.