Roast Chicken with 49 Cloves of Garlic

Hooray! The Joy of Cooking arrived at my house and all is well. I made an all-Joy meal the other night, which included Roast Chicken with 40 (technically there were 49) cloves of garlic, and roasted peaches. I was pretty pleased with the chicken roasting process, as I have never done it before and it seems a little intimidating. Turns out it is really easy. The only part that I found, um, disgusting was removing the spine from the chicken. The recipe doesn't actually call for this, but my dad suggested it so that the chicken could actually be stuffed, so to speak. It worked out really well but was gross.

Chicken with 40 (49) cloves of garlic, From The Joy of Cooking:
One 3.5-4 lb Chicken
Rub the skin with Olive Oil
Mix:
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp sage
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp black pepper
Rub mixture on the skin and in the cavity.
Place 1 quartered lemon in the cavity.
Place the chicken, breast side up in a casserole, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (up to 24). Preheat oven to 375 degrees with rack in center.
Add:
3 garlic heads, separated but not peeled.
1 3/4 cups chicken stock
1 cup dry white wine
Bring to a boil on the stove, when boiling cover and place in the oven. Cook at 375 for 25 minutes, then increase heat to 450 and cook for an additional 30-45 minutes. Add chicken stock or wine as needed to keep liquid in the bottom of the pan.
Optional: Remove 6+ garlic cloves, peel and mix with2 tbsp minced fresh parsley or finely shredded basil. Mix paste in with the sauce.

I used extra garlic cloves to make garlic mashed potatoes...yum yum.


And then dessert! Baked Stuffed Peaches.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Halve 4 peaches.
Mix 1/2 cup orange juice and 1/4 cup powdered sugar until sugar dissolves. Toss peaches in juice mixture until evenly coated.
In a food processor, mix 1/3 cup slivered almonds, 1/4 cup dark brown sugar. Pulse until almonds are small pieces. Add 1 tablespoon cold butter and pulse until crumbly (I forgot to add the butter so ended up just putting small pats on top of each peach). Divide the almond mixture among hollows of peaches. Bake until pan juices are bubbly, about 15-20 minutes.