Chicken Fricassee meets Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic My Way

When I started preparing dinner last night I wasn't sure what I was going to make as I was looking in the fridge for ideas. I did grocery shop yesterday but went to the store without any meals planned which I usually have two or three dinners mapped out. It will be an interesting week in the kitchen...maybe I can pulled together some wiener wings one night.

Anyway back to last night. I had bought a cheap bottle of Riesling yesterday at the nearby wine store to have on hand for cooking and had that in mind as an ingredient. (Great cooks always recommend cooking with good wine something worth drinking but I don't want to cook with wine worth drinking I want to drink good wine) I first thought I would make chicken with 40 cloves of garlic as I was thinking I wanted something easy and I also wanted something I could cook on top of the stove. What I ended up with was something more like chicken fricassee with a bunch of whole unpeeled garlic cloves and then with a little odd touch I threw in some fresh Brussels sprouts that I had sliced in half. For a side I made mashed potatoes. The dinner was outstanding. Mr. Red Molly and I kept commenting during dinner about how good the food was. I made the recipe up as I went along and I am going to publish it here so I will know how to recreate it again which I plan to soon. The Brussels sprouts were a very nice touch. I had never much like the vegetable until my son cooked them for us last year.

Chicken Fricassee with 40 Cloves of Garlic and Brussels Sprouts

One cut of chicken (or variety of parts - I used thighs and legs)
olive oil
flour for dredging
S & P
fresh rosemary sprigs
1 medium onion
1 to 2 carrots
couple of stalks of celery
20 to 40 garlic cloves - unpeeled
1 - 1/2 cup cheap white wine
1/4 cup cream
Fresh Brussels sprouts sliced in half

Prepare vegetables for mirepoix. Rinse chicken under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. Shake off as much as possible. Pour olive oil in dutch oven heat add chicken and sauté until lightly browned. Remove from pan and set aside. Place mirepoix and rosemary in pan and sauté until softened add salt and pepper. Place chicken back in pan along with the garlic cloves and reheat. Add wine cover and simmer for about 40 minutes depending on size of chicken pieces. About 12 to 15 minutes before chicken is done place Brussels sprouts in pan. Larger garlic cloves may not be cooked enough in this amount of time so I recommend smaller cloves. Remove chicken from pan and place on serving dish. Slowly stir in cream and heat. Sauce should be slightly thicken. Pour sauce over chicken. Serve with delicious mashed potatoes made with Yukon gold potatoes. Bon Appétit!!