Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and I hope you all plan to do something special with someone you love.
We are leaving this afternoon for a weekend getaway to Minneapolis. We’ve had a couple of very long weeks with our favorite three-year-old and I think a change of scenery is in order.
Oy, three year olds! The most irrational humans on the planet. You haven’t lived until you’ve:
Timed someone’s pee schedule
Had a conversation about who gets to say the words “fuckin’ ass”
Confiscated someone’s toothbrush for scrubbing the bathroom floor with it, then putting it back in their mouth
Watched someone chew up their food then barf it up on their plate……on purpose
Allowed someone to shine a flashlight on you while you shower
Returned to a store to pay for all the things found in someone’s pocket
Uttered the words, “Don’t touch your poop”
If you are planning a romantic dinner at home this Valentine’s Day then I’ve got the menu for you. This roasted chicken is one of my favorite meals on the planet. There are three, yep three heads of garlic in this recipe—it is not for wimps.
This garlic of garlicky-ist roasted chickens was developed by my dear friend Regan Cafiso when we were food editors over at CHOW and it remains one of my favorite dishes for lovers—as she would say, in a us against the world sort of way. Serve with a nice salad, some sort of chocolaty dessert, a stellar bottle of wine and watch the love flow. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!!
Valentine’s Day Menu:
Baby Kale, Avocado, and Pear with Grapefruit-Cilantro Vinaigrette
Garlic Roast Chicken with Garlic Sauce and Garlic Bread
Mexican Chocolate Tart with Tequila
Garlic Roasted Chicken with Garlic Sauce on Garlic Toast {Dairy-Free}
Recipe slightly adapted from CHOW
If you plan ahead it is best to rinse the chicken and season with salt as instructed in step 2 a day in advance. Leave uncovered in your refrigerator until ready to cook. The salt dry-brines the chicken and makes the skin extra crispy.
Ingredients
For the garlic paste:
- 1 head garlic (about 20 cloves), peeled and coarsely chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Freshly ground black pepper
For the chicken and garlic sauce:
- 1 (3-1/2- to 4-pound) whole chicken
- Salt
- 2 heads garlic, one whole, the other separated into cloves and left unpeeled
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for tossing with the garlic and oiling the chicken
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 3 sprigs fresh mint
- 1/2 lemon, cut into 4 wedges
- 1 celery stalk, cut into 3-inch pieces
- 2 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth, divided
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
For the garlic bread:
- 1/2 loaf day-old pain au levain or other crusty white bread, halved and cut into 1-inch-thick slices
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
For the garlic paste:
- Combine all the paste ingredients in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse until finely chopped, but not completely smooth.
For the chicken and garlic sauce:
- Heat the oven to 450°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Remove the bag of giblets from inside the chicken and discard everything but the neck. Rinse the chicken inside and out and pat dry with paper towels. Season well with salt.
- Remove the first two sections of the wings, leaving the third bone attached. Reserve the wings with the neck. Carefully slide your fingers underneath the skin on each breast, thigh, and at the neck to loosen the skin.
- Evenly distribute the garlic paste under the skin and inside the chicken cavity. Slice off the top of the whole head of garlic, season with salt and pepper, and rub with a little olive oil. Place the garlic inside the cavity with 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme and mint sprigs. Tie the drumsticks together with kitchen twine. Rub the skin with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper.
- Toss the unpeeled garlic cloves, lemon wedges, celery pieces, remaining 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, and reserved wings and neck with about 1 tablespoon olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and mound this mixture in the center of a large, oven safe frying pan. Place the chicken on top of the mound, breast side down. Allow to sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes.
- Place the chicken in the oven and roast for 15 minutes, then remove the pan from the oven and turn the bird breast side up. Return the pan to the oven and reduce the heat to 375°F. Continue roasting for 25 minutes more.
- In a small bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups of the chicken broth with the wine and pour this over the chicken. Continue roasting until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165°F, about 20 to 30 minutes more. Remove from the oven (but leave the oven on for toasting the bread).
- Place the chicken on a clean cutting board and allow to rest while you finish the jus. Remove the lemon wedges from the roasting pan and discard. Pour the contents of the roasting pan into a medium saucepan and add the remaining 3/4 cup chicken broth. Cut the string off the drumsticks, remove the garlic head from the chicken’s cavity, and place it in the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes, skimming away the fat as it rises to the surface. Strain this mixture, reserving several of the whole garlic cloves for the bread and to serve with each portion of chicken. Keep the sauce warm.
For the garlic bread:
- Brush the bread slices with the olive oil on both sides then mash one clove of garlic from the roasted chicken on each slices of bread and spread like butter all over the bread. While you carve the chicken, toast the bread in the oven until crisp.
- To serve, place a piece of garlic bread in a shallow bowl and top with a piece of chicken. Pour some sauce over top and garnish with several of the reserved cooked garlic cloves. Serve extra garlic toasts on the side.
Nutrition Information:
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 0Total Fat: 0g
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have you been allowing your 3 year old to watch episodes of “being bobby brown?”? wtf is going on up there? what ever it is: winter; fracking; or just being 3, please keep on writing about it. made me laugh out-loud.
the garlic roasted chicken sounds delicious, and the process seems so intuitive. gonna give her a go sometime!
happy valentine’s day!xoxo
Hahahaha! I’ve got to dig up some old episodes of Being Bobby Brown but for me, not them. I could use a laugh every now and again.