Chicken With Garlic

Once again I found a recipe in the Sunday Roanoke Times that I wanted to try.  I changed a few things.  It turned out pretty good.  We eat a lot of vegetarian meals, but other meals usually include chicken.  You can't have the same chicken breast day after day, so this made a nice change.  The recipe called for legs and thighs.  That means a lot of skin and bones that I have to deal with.  So I switched to chicken breasts.  You can choose your favorite.

 

Chicken With Garlic

1 medium onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, thinly sliced

3 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro  The recipe called for parsley, but I needed cilantro for something else, so used that.  Use what you like.

3 chicken breasts  Or use legs and thighs.

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
black pepper.  Just a few twists of a grinder or a pinch or two.
1/3 cup vermouth or sherry or white wine.  I used the sherry, cause I had some on a shelf in the pantry.

Two bulbs of garlic, separated and peeled  The garlic became soft and delicious and I wouldn't have minded more, but I got tired of peeling them.



 

Heat oven to 325°. Spray an 8X8 baking dish with Pam.

 

Place the onions, celery and cilantro in the baking dish.  Drizzle the chicken breasts with OO and sprinkle them with the S&P. 

 

Rub it in and place the breasts on top of the vegetables.

Do you know the trick for peeling garlic? 

 

I like to cut the stem end off first.  Then place the side of a large knife on the clove and give it a pound with the palm of your hand. 

 

MAKE SURE THE SHARP EDGE IS FACING THE CUTTING BOARD.   We don't want to interrupt dinner with a quick trip to the emergency room.

 

Little papers everywhere and sticking to my fingers!  Place the peeled cloves around the chicken breasts.

 

Pour the sherry, or whatever you are using, over the chicken.  If you don't want to use an alcoholic beverage, you don't need to substitute anything else.  There is plenty of moisture from the vegetables.  If you insist, pour a few Tablespoons of water on top.

 

Cover and bake for 1 1/2 hours.  Use foil if your baking dish does not have a lid.  Mine started to smell wonderful about 1 hour and 10 minutes in and I tested the temperature.  It was over 165 and so it was done.

 

Serve with a salad.  I used cole slaw.  A delicious and healthy dinner.