Dinner Party with Garlic
Sunday, April 23rd, 2006
Evan and I had the bright idea to invite his parents over for Easter dinner since they have never been to our house for dinner! Shocking I know! Well then we were given a weekend in a huge beach house in the Outer Banks for that same weekend…so naturally we asked to push back the dinner which his parents kindly understood.
So I had to make this dinner really great since (1) they have never eaten at our house and (2) I had to make up big time for postponing our dinner. So I turned to the queen of simple entertaining, Ina Garten, for a delicious and easy entree. I made her Chicken with Forty Cloves (yes it had forty cloves of garlic in it, I counted them!) which was fantastic! I saw it on her show a couple of weeks ago but I believe it is also in her Barefoot in Paris cookbook which I flipped through while at the beach and really liked the recipes,I may need to add this one to the collection. I also took some inspiration from one of her salads in the book and made a salad with pears, gorgonzola and a nice simple vinaigrette.
As a side I made my first orzo dish which had some carrots and peas in it. Nice and simple but really yummy. I really think homemade chicken stock makes a tremendous difference in dishes like this.
For dessert I tried out a recipe I made up for a cooking contest coming up in about a week. I am so excited because everyone had seconds! That’s always a good sign! I think with one minor change I will be on my way! I will have more on this recipes later.
unfortunately I did not have a chance to take pictures of anything but I assure you it was all quite beautiful and tasty!
Ina’s Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic
from Ina Garten
This recipe looks daunting but is really worth all of the browning and transferring of chicken, once everything is browned up you just throw everything in the pot and let the cookware do the work- I think this is a great recipe for entertaining. ~Jen
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 (I used brandy)
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons heavy cream (I left this out)
Separate the cloves of garlic and drop them into a pot of boiling water for 60 seconds. Drain the garlic and peel. Set aside. (Peeling the garlic is a great task for the husband, wife or kids!)
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, saute 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 the heat down to medium. When a batch is done, transfer it to a plate and continue to saute 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 saute 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.
Jen’s Confetti Orzo
1 T. olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 chopped carrots
3 cups chicken stock (homemade is best in this recipe if you have it!)
1 cup orzo
1/2 cup frozen peas
salt and pepper
2 T. milk or cream
1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat, add onions, garlic and carrots and cook until soft.
2. Add chicken stock, raise heat to high. Once boiling, add orzo, stir and cover. Cook for about 10 minutes until liquid is absorbed and pasta is al dente, stirring occasionally.
3. Add frozen peas and cook for one more minutes, stirring constantly. Turn off heat and season with salt and pepper. Finish with the milk or cream to smooth it out and make it nice and creamy.
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