Nigella Lawson shares her recipe for a chicken casserole with FORTY garlic cloves

by

Nigella Lawson shares her recipe for chicken casserole with FORTY garlic cloves – as fans joke the pungent dish ‘wouldn’t be suitable for a first date’

  • Nigella Lawson, 61, shared ‘Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic’ dish on Instagram
  • Fans joked recipe would go down well in Transylvania, where Dracula is based 
  • TV chef played down using so many saying taste softened when cooked in skins

By Nicole Conner For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

Nigella Lawson has divided opinion with her casserole recipe which includes forty cloves of garlic.

The TV chef, 61, from London, took to Instagram to share her ‘Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic’ dish as her Recipe of the Day with her 2.5million followers, penning: ‘When I tell you that Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic is Recipe of the Day, don’t be alarmed.’ 

‘This is a classic for a reason. The garlic cloves cook in their skins until mellow and sweet. Bread for dipping essential.’ 

But it wasn’t long before the post was flooded with comments – with many fans poking fun at the recipe. 

Nigella Lawson, 61, has divided opinion as she took to Instagram to share her chicken casserole dish as her Recipe of the Day which includes forty cloves of garlic

INGREDIENTS AND RECIPE 

INGREDIENTS 

Makes: 4-6 

2 x 15ml tablespoons regular olive oil

8 chicken thighs with skin on and bone in (preferably organic)

1 bunch or 6 spring onions

small bunch fresh thyme

40 cloves garlic (approx. 3-4 bulbs), unpeeled

2 x 15ml tablespoons dry white vermouth or white wine

1½ teaspoons sea salt flakes or ¾ teaspoon pouring salt

good grinding pepper

 METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4/350°F. Heat the oil on the hob in a wide, shallow ovenproof and flameproof casserole (that will ultimately fit all the chicken in one layer, and that has a lid), and sear the chicken over a high heat, skin-side down. This may take 2 batches, so transfer the browned pieces to a bowl as you go.

Once the chicken pieces are seared, transfer them all to the bowl. Finely slice the spring onions, put them into the casserole and quickly stir fry them with the leaves torn from a few sprigs of thyme.

Put 20 of the unpeeled cloves of garlic (papery excess removed) into the casserole, top with the chicken pieces skin-side up, then cover with the remaining 20 cloves of garlic.

Add the vermouth (or white wine) to any oily, chickeny juices left in the bowl. Swill it around and pour this into the casserole.

Sprinkle with the salt, grind over the pepper, and add a few more sprigs of thyme. Put on the lid and cook in the oven for 1½ hours.

Source: https://www.nigella.com/recipes/chicken-with-40-cloves-of-garlic 

The recipe – which serves four to six people – includes eight chicken thighs and is also flavoured with white wine, thyme and pepper and salt. 

Nigella tried to play down using so much garlic, saying the taste and smell is softened because it is  cooked in its skins.

On her website Nigella added: ‘When I was young, this old French classic was still – though in a quiet way – very much in vogue.

‘I dare to say it was because the novelty of using so many garlic cloves had not worn off. It seemed somehow dangerously excessive.

Nigella tried to play down using so much garlic by saying the taste and smell is softened because it is cooked in its skins

Nigella tried to play down using so much garlic by saying the taste and smell is softened because it is cooked in its skins  

‘Even so, I don’t think anyone would think it quite unremarkable now to put 40 cloves of garlic in a casserole.

‘Certainly, if you peeled and chopped – let alone minced – the garlic, it would be inedible. 

‘But garlic cloves cooked encased in their skins grow sweet and caramelly as they cook, like savoury bonbons in their sticky wrappers, rather than breathing out acrid heat.

‘This is a cosy supper, not a caustic one.’

And it wasn't long before the post was flooded with comments - from fans poking fun at the recipe with one joking it would be a hit in Transylvania

And it wasn’t long before the post was flooded with comments – from fans poking fun at the recipe with one joking it would be a hit in Transylvania 

However foodies were left unsure by her latest recipe, with one writing: ‘Not recommended for a first date.’

Another joked that the meal would go down well in Transylvania, Romania, where the legend of Dracula is based, as garlic is thought to ward off vampires. 

Another quipped: ‘Did you actually count them Nigella?’ 

But some fans seemed to find forty cloves a rational amount, with one even teasing the recipe could still have used more

But some fans seemed to find forty cloves a rational amount, with one even teasing the recipe could still have used more

But some fans seemed to find forty cloves a rational amount, with one even teasing the recipe could still have used more.

One said: ‘Forty cloves seems entirely reasonable to me,’ while a second added: ‘Not enough garlic,’ and another gushed: ‘Garlic overload, I love it.’

National treasure Nigella is no stranger to controversy over her dishes, as she she split opinions last month by putting bacon in her chocolate brownies.