From Wall Street To Your Street

I’ve told you about my new found favorite food section-the Off Duty section of the Saturday Wall Street Journal. There are more interesting recipes here than any of the other food sections I peruse. Last week I saw two that I knew I would try immediately. One was for “Almost Confit Chicken With Melted Garlic” (by Roxanne Gold) and the other was for an ingredient I’ve never used before-sunchokes.

J. is a big fan of duck confit so I was intrigued by a recipe using chicken, especially thighs, which we both love. You need little more than chicken and garlic with some spices tossed in and you’re good to go. Let me tell you the house smelled incredible with the scent of roasting garlic wafting around. The chicken cooks on a low 300 degrees for an hour and forty-five minutes and when it’s done you have some pretty amazing chicken-falling off the bone and lots of roasted garlic.

Almost Confit Chicken

8 chicken thighs, about 8 ounces each
14 large garlic cloves
1-1/2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
6 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Put the chicken thighs in a large bowl. Press 2 garlic cloves through a press and rub into the chicken. Add the fresh thyme, bay leaves, allspice, ground white pepper and salt. Grate a pinch of fresh nutmeg over chicken and toss.

Place chicken in a small roasting pan in one layer, skin -side down. Cover and bake tightly with foil and bake for 45 minutes.Turn chicken skin-side up and scatter with the remaining garlic cloves. Re-cover and bake for 1 hour longer. Turn on the broiler. Uncover the chicken and broil several inches from the heat until the skin is crispy, about 5 minutes. Serve with crusty bread!

Photo courtesy of Wall Street Journal.

Next up-the mysterious sunchoke.