Try this Spanish Garlic Chicken (Pollo al Ajillo) recipe.
- Carbohydrate 0.249888854166667 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 0.0732114582583333 g
- Fiber 0.0891135393778483 g
- Protein 0.0270503125 g
- Saturated Fat 0.0136902083229773 g
- Serving Size 1 1 -7 (0g)
- Sodium 0.0868958333318333 mg
- Sugar 0.160775314788818 g
- Trans Fat 0.00777333333130233 g
- Calories 1 calories
Step-by-step
- Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Sprinkle both sides of the thighs with a little salt and pepper.
- Add about ¼ inch of olive oil to a heavy Dutch oven and heat over medium-high heat. Add the garlic to the pot. Stir and turn often, cooking just until the garlic is golden brown.
- Remove the garlic from the oil and reserve to a plate.
- Add the chicken to the pot, skin-side down. Don’t over crowd the chicken. You can brown the chicken in batches if you need to. Cook until the skin is nicely browned and crispy.
- Remove the chicken to the plate.
- Drain oil from Dutch oven, reserving 4 tablespoons.
- With two tablespoons of the olive oil added back to the pot, add in 2 cups of wine and whisk for a minute or two over medium heat.
- Remove the skin from the garlic. Using a fork or the back of a spoon, smash a couple cloves of the garlic into the sauce and whisk to combine.
- Add the bay leaves, whole sprigs of the rosemary and thyme, the chicken and remaining garlic to the pot. Bring the pot to a simmer and allow the liquid to reduce down until it’s almost gone. Add in the two remaining tablespoons of oil and the remaining wine. Reduce down by about half. Serve the chicken with a little of the juice drizzled over the top.
Controlling the oil temperature while browning the dozen whole, skin-on garlic cloves dictates whether the final sauce tastes sweet and mellow or sharp and bitter. Watch the cloves continuously over medium-high heat, removing them the moment they turn golden brown to prevent acrid compounds from ruining the pan drippings. Pollo al Ajillo transforms remarkably well by the second day. Stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days, the chicken absorbs the gelatin and aromatics as the cooking liquid cools, rendering the meat more tender upon reheating. Scaling this preparation up requires careful batch management in your heavy Dutch oven. Overcrowding the base drops the oil temperature and steams the poultry rather than rendering a crisp skin.
- Pat the chicken thighs thoroughly with paper towels before seasoning to ensure proper contact with the hot oil and guarantee a deep, mahogany crust.
- Whisk the initial two cups of white wine into four tablespoons of reserved olive oil over medium heat, scraping the bottom of the pot to incorporate browned fond.
- Smash two softened garlic cloves into the reducing wine using the back of a spoon to naturally thicken the pan sauce.
- Simmer the ingredients until the liquid almost vanishes before introducing the final two tablespoons of oil and remaining wine for the secondary reduction phase.
Proper storage allows the rosemary and thyme aromatics to fully penetrate the protein fibers overnight. Gentle stovetop warming brings the dish back to serving temperature without toughening the meat.
