Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic

SOOO! I'm back. I haven't posted since November for 2 reasons. 1) My sister sent me a virus and my laptop is all funny and I'm being cheap and lazy so I'm using Adam's computer till I fix it. 2) Adam and I didn't know how to upload pictures to his computer, but I have figured it out. So now I'm back with a ton of stuff to share. There is a lot of Christmas foods (plum pudding, fruit cake, cookies!), some more Nigella and some Julia Child. I'm very excited about the Julia Child ones. My sister got me Mastering the Art of French Cooking  for Christmas. I love it! for that matter I loved Christmas this year. I got soooo much cookery. Beside Julia I also got a cast iron pot ( very exciting!) and a blow torch. I think those are the three things that I was most excited about. Oh no I lie, my mom got me the 101 piece Wilton cake decorating set. I haven't made to many cakes yet, but I do have one in mind of Valentines day.

I decided that my first post back should be a Nigella recipe. More specifically a Nigella Kitchen recipe. Mostly because it is quickly becoming my favorite Nigella Lawson cookbook. I know may of you might be thinking " Dana I thought you where a vegetarian" but I am...really. It is just that recently with the addition of Kitchen and now Mastering the Art of French cooking there are so many recipes that I want to try that I may have eaten the odd chicken, duck or pork product. I admit it. I'm awful. I know.

K, so here we go. This is a super yummy recipe and it isn't hard to make. Honestly I think the hardest part is peeling all that garlic. The recipe call for 40 cloves but really if it's 39 or 41 it doesn't really matter, it will taste amazing either way.

You will need:
2 tablespoon olive oil
8 pieces of chicken ( Nigella calls for thighs but use whatever you like)
1 bunch of green onions
small bunch of thyme
40 cloves of garlic ( 3 or 4 bulbs)
2 tablespoon white wine or vermouth
salt and pepper to taste

1) Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. In a oven and stove proof pan heat the olive oil
2) When hot, add the chicken skin side down and sear ( about 3-4 minutes)
3) Remove chicken and place in a bowl. Add the spring onions to the pan on the stove and saute for 1 minute, add the thyme.
4) Spread 20 unpeeled cloves of garlic on the bottom of the pan. Place the chicken on top of the garlic. Then cover with the remaining garlic.
5) Add the wine/ vermouth to the chicken. Season with salt and pepper and place in the oven lid on ( or carefully cover with foil) for 1 1/2 hours.

Enjoy!

Tips
Nigella has a tip for using the leftover chicken juices and leftover chicken. She says to add water or stock to the juices and simmer until hot then add shredded chicken that it is nice to have the day after. Go ahead try it, I also don't see why you couldn't add some of the garlic. I would remove the paper and mash it then add it to the soup.

Pholourie

K, so I'm about to go all Guyanese, well sort of. My mom is Guyanese which makes me 1/2 Guyanese. She makes Pholourie, which is basically a fried dough. But it is so much more then that. It is these little balls of curry goodness. They taste fantastic on there own but when you dip it in a mango sauce it taste even better. This recipe calls for split pea flour, which I have yet to find at a normal super market. To make it easier on yourself just go to a bulk food store, that is where I get mine. Spilt pea flour isn't expensive, so you can make this over and over again. My only suggestion is to use new oil, using old oil will make the pholourie taste like fish or whatever you fried last. I also don't recommend re using the oil unless you want your food to taste a bit like curry. Please, please please be very careful when you fry these, I find that I need only put 2 or 3 inches of oil in the pot. There is a lot of moisture and the oil will bubble up because of this. Use your best judgment and be safe.

You will need:

For the Pholourie

1 cup split pea flour
1 cup plain flour
2 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cup water

1) In a bowl add all the dry ingredients and stir

2) add the garlic
3) Add a cup of the water and stir to combine, if the batter seems to dry add more water. It should resemble a pancake batter
4) Let rest for 45 minutes to an hour.

5) Heat a pot or pan with oil
6) Using a spoon or a mellow baller spoon the batter into the pot. Make sure not to over crowd the pot, 4-6 pholourie should be enough.
7) Cook until golden brown

ENJOY!!

Mango Sauce (Mango Chutney)

1 Large green mango or 2 small
1 clove of garlic minced
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (optional)

1) Using a box grater, grate the mango
2) Add the garlic and pepper sauce, stir to combine

ENJOY!!!

Tips
1) Make the mango sauce while the batter rests
2) The amount of curry powder and garlic can be adjusted. I like a fair amount of garlic.
3) A unripened mango is preferred, if you can not find one a rip mango is fine.