French Classic; Roasted Chicken with 40 cloves of Garlic & Roasted Potatoes

This classic Provençal dish is very simple to prepare, makes for a delicious dinner and can be the perfect base for other chicken-based concoctions. Don't let the amount of garlic turn you off the dish, it works out really well and because the garlic is being roasted it will become sweet in flavour and very complimentary for the chicken flavour. The roasted garlic can also be used in making  Roasted Garlic Aioli, which could be used in sandwiches among other preparations. The juices produced in the cooking can be a base for an excellent soup (used as broth) and the left over chicken can make many varieties of other dishes. This is a good dish to master! Perfect on it's own & creates excellent delicious ingredients for other dishes.

For Chicken
You need

1.5Kg whole chicken

40 cloves garlic, seperated from bulb but unpeeled
2 Tbsp butter, at room temperature
Coarse Salt
Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
1 bay leaf
1 cup water



For Roasted Potatoes
You Need
1kg Baby new potatoes
Vegetable Oil Spray
Salt & Pepper

herbs (optional, you can flavour roasted potatoes with any herbs you like, or you can keep them plain)

Preheat your oven to 450F.

Clean the insides & rinse your chicken. Pat dry with a paper towel. Rub the insides & outsides of chicken with butter. sprinkle all sides & insides with coarse salt & freshly cracked black pepper. Place some garlic cloves & bay leaf inside the chicken cavity. Tie the legs together with a kitchen string (you can ask your butcher give you some string if you don't have any.)

Place the rest of your garlic on the bottom of your baking dish. Place the chicken on top of the Garlic. Add water to the bottom of dish (do not add on chicken as it will wash out the seasoning).Place the baking dish in preheated oven and roast the chicken uncovered for 1 1/2 hrs till browned & cooked through. Note that you need to occasionally brush the chicken with the juices of pan to avoid it from drying out and keep it moist & tender.

Let the chicken sit for 5 minutes on a seperate plate before serving.

For Roasted Potatoes

Wash the potatoes & score twice with a fork. If you decide to go with large potatoes instead of new potatoes; chop into large chunks. Place potato in salted water & boil for 7 minutes. Remove & drain potatoes. Generously spray your baking dish with vegetable oil. Sprinkle with Coarse salt & black pepper. add drained boiled potatoes. Spray & season one more. Place in oven with chicken in the last 40 minutes. Roast till browned & crunchy.

Serve the Chicken with the potatoes. Beetroot Salad really compliments the flavours of this dish.

Make sure you try it! You will love it.....

Does the sound of 40 cloves of garlic scare you? It scared me the first time I made this dish! But it turned out Fabulous! Is there a food type that had some surprising element  - such as 40 cloves of garlic - that you have tried and were pleasantly surprised with how good it turned out? let us know about your surprising dish, we most probably would like it too! Leave a comment :)