CHICKEN CASSEROLE WITH FORTY CLOVES OF GARLIC

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Ingredients
  

  • 2 large slices coarsely grained bread can use slices ofFrench or Italian bread
  • 1 3 1/2-to-4- lb. chicken whole
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • Salt
  • 2 bay leaves—-
  • 40 cloves garlic unpeeled

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350° F.
  • Put the bread slices in a 4- to 5-quart earthenwarecasserole with cover. Truss thechicken but do not stuff it. Placeon top of bread. Smear the top ofthe chicken with the butter and salt. Addthe bay leaves.
  • Surround the chicken with the unpeeled garlic cloves.
  • Cover the casserole and bake in 350° F. oven for 1 1/2hours. Since the garlic skinsharden in the cooking, the centers of the cloves can easily be removed and willbe soft. Either spread them on thebread and serve with the chicken or put in a small dish and pass along with thebread.

Notes

Serves 4.
Inspired by the Forty Clove of Garlic in the above recipe, we often surround ourstand-up chicken with lots of unpeeled garlic, stuff a few peeled cloves underthe skin, shake a bit of Italian Seasoning over the chicken, then drizzle alittle rosemary-olive oil. Voila — it cooks. Of course, this wayyou do not have that steamy bread. Just serve a good loaf on theside.
(The recipe below was originally from Bill &Dougie McKereghan, our neighbors “across the alley” when we lived on AbellAvenue in Baltimore.)
This recipe has been kitchen tested.
To see a recently published and very different version, developed by chef Antoine Westermann, you can go to the New York Times’ website, double click here on
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/12/dining/121GREX.html
Theauthor of the article in The Times, Dorie Greenspan, describes this latest reincarnation of garlic chicken “. . . the next generation of a great no-matter-what recipe.”
Keyword Poultry