Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic (slow cooker recipe)

If you don't like garlic, stop reading immediately. If you DO love garlic, make this recipe at once.

Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic is a traditional French bistro dish which was popularized in America by Julia Child. I love whole roast chicken, but it takes too long to cook for dinner to be ready on time. Enter the crock pot. It takes much longer, but that means that I can leave the house and let it slow cook for 8 hours or so.

I went shopping post-Thanksgiving so little baggies of fresh "poultry herb blend" were on sale. It included sprigs of sage, thyme, rosemary, and marjoram. You could certainly just use thyme instead, though.

By the way, I did not count out the exact number of garlic cloves. I just used a whole bunch of 'em!

SLOW COOKER CHICKEN WITH 40 CLOVES OF GARLIC
Serves 2-4

INGREDIENTS

• 1 whole chicken, rinsed and patted dry, giblets and excess fat pockets removed
• Sprigs of fresh marjoram, sage, rosemary, and thyme; or 1 small bunch of fresh thyme
• Half of a lemon
• About 40 cloves of garlic (I used 4 heads)
• Salt, pepper, paprika, and/or whatever seasonings you like on roast chicken

DIRECTIONS

1. Separate the garlic cloves but leave them unpeeled. The easiest way to do this is to roll the head of garlic on the counter top.
2. Place the garlic cloves in the bottom of your slow cooker, then place the chicken on top, breast side up.
3. Stuff the chicken cavity with the lemon half.
4. Season the chicken liberally with salt, pepper, and paprika and/or other seasonings
5. Roughly strip the leaves off of the herbs, tear them up, and strew them on and around the chicken.
6. Cook on low for 8 hours.
7. Separate the chicken into individual pieces (breast, wings, leg quarters) and broil them on a baking sheet for a couple of minutes or until the skin crisps.
8. Serve immediately with the garlic cloves. You might make mashed cauliflower (exclude the roasted garlic) and/or gravy to serve alongside.

Posted in: chicken,poultry,slow cooker