Poulet aux quarante gousses d’ail

Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic

This sounds frighteningly overpowering but, as anyone who has ever roasted garlic knows, the cloves mellow and sweeten in the oven until, when you come to serve, the creamy flesh that is squeezed from the skins is quite different from the raw clove.

serves 4

2 celery stalks, including leaves

2 sprigs of rosemary

4 sprigs of thyme

4 sprigs of flat-leaf (Italian) parsley

1 x 1.6 kg (3 lb 10 oz) chicken

40 garlic cloves, unpeeled

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 carrot, roughly chopped

1 small onion, cut into 4 wedges

250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) white wine

1 baguette, cut into slices

small sprigs of herbs, to garnish

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F/Gas 6). Put a chopped celery stalk, the rosemary, half the thyme and half the parsley into the chicken cavity. Add 6 cloves of garlic. Tie the legs together and tuck the wing tips under.

Brush the chicken liberally with some of the olive oil and season well. Scatter 10 more garlic cloves over the base of a large casserole dish. Put the rest of the sprigs of herbs, chopped celery, carrot and onion in the casserole.

Put the chicken in the casserole dish on top of the herbs and vegetables. Scatter the remaining garlic cloves around the chicken and pour in the rest of the olive oil and the white wine. Cover and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes, or until the meat is tender and the juices run clear when the thigh is pierced with a skewer.

Carefully lift the chicken out of the casserole dish. Strain the juices into a small saucepan and use a pair of tongs to pick out the garlic cloves from the strained mixture. Spoon off the fat from the juices and boil for 2–3 minutes to reduce and thicken.

Cut the chicken into serving portions, pour over a little of the juices and scatter with the garlic. Toast the baguette slices, then garnish the chicken with herb sprigs and serve with the bread to be spread with the soft flesh squeezed from the garlic.

Use a casserole dish into which the chicken and vegetables fit quite snugly so that the flavours mingle well.