40 Clove Garlic Chicken & Roasted Butternut Squash

I've seen several recipes for 40 clove garlic chicken, from A Year of Slow Cooking and Crepes of Wrath. They both look so good but the thought of 40 cloves of garlic scared me. I decided to give it a try, kind of did a combination of the two recipes. I paired it with roasted butternut squash with agave and balsamic vinegar glaze from Kalyn's Kitchen. The chicken was great! I used boned chicken breasts but took the skin off. It cooked for about 6 hours and I think any longer would have dried the chicken out. It probably wouldn't have been dry if I kept the skin on or used dark meat. The squash was okay. I cooked it for almost 40 minutes and it still didn't seem done. The flavor was good but not amazing. Maybe I just should have kept it in a little bit longer. I actually had some of the chicken today with the Cottage Potatoes from earlier in the week. They worked really well together!


Slow Cooker 40 Clove Garlic Chicken

Ingredients

• 3-4 pounds chicken (I used 4 pounds of bone-in chicken breasts with the skin removed.)
• 1 large onion (or 2 bitties, like I used), sliced
• 1/4-1/2 cup white wine (I didn't measure, just put a couple of splashes in.)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 40 cloves of garlic, peeled but still whole (about 3 bulbs of garlic)

Directions

1. Place onion slices on the bottom of the stoneware insert. Add white wine
2. In a large mixing bowl, toss chicken parts with olive oil, salt, paprika, pepper, rosemary, thyme, and all of the garlic cloves. Pour into slow cooker, on top of the onion.
3. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-6.

Agave Balsamic Butternut Squash

Ingredients

• 1 buttercup squash, peeled and cubed
• 2 T Agave Nectar (preferably amber variety)
• 2 T good quality balsamic vinegar
• freshly ground black pepper and sea salt to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Spray roasting pan with non-stick spray or olive oil.
2. In a bowl, mix together agave nectar and balsamic vinegar. Add butternut squash and toss to coat. Lay squash in single layer on roasting pan.
3. Roast squash 30 minutes, or until squash pierces easily with a fork and is lightly browned. Stir part way through.
4. Grind black pepper and sea salt over squash and serve hot.