Chicken in Garlic Sauce (Pollo al Ajillo)
Filed under
Poultry
Recipe courtesy Daisy Martinez. Thighs won't dry out; a paella pan's wide, shallow shape is handy here. In a smaller Dutch oven, brown in batches and rotate the pieces as they simmer so they cook evenly.
Ingredients
- 12 Chicken thigh, large, about 4 pounds
- Sea salt, fine, or kosher salt
- Black pepper, freshly ground
- 1/4 cup Canola oil
- 10 clove Garlic, sliced
- 2 tsp Thyme, fresh leaves, chopped
- 1/2 cup Sherry, dry
- 1/2 cup Chicken broth, homemade or canned
Directions
- Wash the chicken thighs and pat dry. Season generously with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat and add as many thighs, skin side down, as fit without touching.
- Cook until the skin is golden brown, about 10 minutes. Flip and cook until the other side is golden, about 5 minutes more.
- Off the heat, spoon off all but about 2 tablespoons of fat, leaving the brown bits. Return to low heat, stir in the garlic and thyme and cook until the garlic starts to turn golden, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Pour in the sherry, raise to medium and boil a minute or 2. Return the chicken skin side up, reduce to low, pour in the broth and bring to a simmer. Cover tightly and cook 20 minutes.
- Flip the chicken (or rotate top to bottom in a smaller pan) and cook until very tender, about 20 minutes. Serve hot.
For white and dark meat, use a 4-pound chicken cut into 10 pieces: let the thighs, drumsticks and wings cook in the sauce 15 minutes before adding the browned breast pieces. For all white meat, cut the breasts in half crosswise, brown them, and let the sauce cook down 10 to 15 minutes before adding them.