Oven baked Garlic Chicken and Shenanigans

I feel so guilty, I am so caught up  with Netflix Series my daily life routines and chores ( rolls eyes) that I completely forgot I have a blog to attend to! And when one has a blog, one has responsibilities. It has been  2 months since my last post. I know it's why shorter than the last time I confess my sins to a priest but believe me, I feel more guilty neglecting this blog than admitting my affinity to town gossip indulgence  and  stalking frenemies on social media to the man of cloth. I hope Santa will still visit  me.

So long story short, here I am again; writing, sharing and hoping that 2018 will bring me the motivation I need to keep my almost- 6 year old blog up and running. My absence doesn't actually mean that I cook less. On the contrary I am quite busy stuffing myself silly with all things sugary , Christmasy and not so healthy that my weighing scale could probably break a spine if it has any for all the extra stone I pile on this past few months.

Anyway, I want to share  a recipe that my good friend Nancy found on the  Internet. She's also a passionate cook who loves to try anything she found interesting. She was gushing on how good this chicken recipe is, so I decided to give it a go. The original version has less sauce or gravy on it, it's actually  a roast. Since I love delicious sauces , I make my version almost braised-like. Nevertheless, It was so yummy! I love one pot dishes, having a beautiful cast iron skillet allows me cook, bake and serve the this dish in no time. From the pan to the table! 

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. butter

 whole head ( large) garlic, peeled

about 1 kg of chicken thigh and leg skin on and

seasoned well with salt and pepper

2 tsp. herbes de Provence

1 and 1/2  tbsp. flour

1 cup chicken stock

juice of 1 large lemon

chopped parsley

Let's get cooking!

1. Put oven proof pan under low medium heat. Add oil and butter, once hot enough, pan fry garlic cloves until golden brown and aromatic. Take garlic out from the pan and set aside.

2. Turn heat to high, fry seasoned chicken 5 minutes on each side. The skin has to crisp up.

3. Add herbes de provence into the chicken. Put pan fried garlic back into the pan.

4. Put pan in a pre-heated oven 190° c and bake chicken for half and hour or until chicken is cooked. To test, prick the thickest part of the meat with tip of the knife, if the juice comes out clean the it's done.

5. Take chicken and garlic cloves out from the pan, put pan back on the stove, heat to medium high, sprinkle flour. Then deglaze pan using chicken stock and lemon juice. Test taste, season with salt and pepper as needed.

Put chicken and garlic back and bring to a short boil, garnish with chopped parsley. Serve with pasta, crusty bread,  potato or rice dishes and green salad. Enjoy!