Today is St. Patrick's Day. My friends are at Irish pubs consuming green beer and celebrating. I am at home because Swede has an early hockey game. As it turns out, this works in my favor. Since I'm home tonight, I made a new Nigella recipe: chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/chicken-with-40-cloves-of-garlic-recipe/index.html
That might sound like too much garlic (though to some of my friends it isn't even close). The thing is, you don't peel the garlic, so it isn't overwhelming. I got home from work at around 5 and started immediately on the chicken. It is simple to prepare, just brown the chicken thighs (which I had to defrost on the fly because I lack the ability to plan), quickly sautee the green onions/thyme, add the garlic and vermouth (oh how I love vermouth), and throw it in the oven. It then has to bake for 90 minutes. I fully intended to prepare carrots to go with the meal.
I took the 90 minutes, however, to go outside and enjoy the weather before it gets deathly hot outside. I brought the girls out on the patio with me. Astrid happily played in her exersaucer while Annika raced her bike back and forth, pretending to be Lightning McQueen competing for the Piston Cup and sponsorship by Dinoco. Since nobody else was competing with her, she won four Piston Cups and - of course - got the prestigious sponsorship. In the meantime, I read my Kindle. It was so idyllic, I completely forgot about the carrots. One night without veggies, won't kill us, right? Sure hope not. I guess that's why we take multivitamins.
Then the chicken was ready. It smelled heavenly. I transferred Astrid to her high chair and let Annika feed her some Os (the organic Whole Foods version of Cheerios). Annika asked if she could have her water in a "big girl glass." I determined this meant a wine glass. Hopefully this won't create problems later, but I agreed. To fancy up her water (and to alleviate some guilt at forgetting the carrots), I sliced up a couple strawberries and put them in her water/wine glass. Annika also requested to sit in my seat at dinner. She apparently felt quite grown up.
I cut her piece of chicken up for her because it had a bone in it (if you have been avoiding chicken thighs for health reasons, stop it. Thighs taste so much better and are only marginally higher in fat if you forgo the skin.) The chicken melted off the bone and I was able to carve it up with a butter knife. Annika (blech!) likes the skin, so I left a bit for her. I served myself without skin. I just can't get over the fact that it's, well, skin! Ew! The meat was tender and succulent. It tasted faintly of garlic and thyme. The vermouth added a welcome bite. In sum, it was amazing! I am a loyal devotee to my butter chicken, but I think this is the best I've ever made. It was juicy and flavorful. I seriously started gnawing whatever meat I could scavenge off the bone. Both Annika and I had a second thigh each. We likely would have each had a third, but I had to save some for Swede (I only made 6).
The meal was so amazing that Annika left her seat on three occasions to hug me and tell me how delicious the chicken was and how much she loves me. Astrid happily ate her Os, not having any idea what she was missing. Annika didn't complain about a single thing. This might be the first time that's happened. I will definitely make this chicken again - next time with a side of veggies, though.
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