OK….
Who hasn’t watched the Food Network’s Barefoot Contessa?
My hand is at my side, because for several years I was addicted to the Food Network and their hosts.
Ina Garten was/is one of my favorites.
I have several of her cookbooks.
For a long time, I tried to find out why she was called the Barefoot Contessa…
She never cooked in her bare feet, at least not that I could tell from her television program and I never heard the slightest hint that she was any type of royalty, let alone a Contessa.
And then…..
According to her BIO, in 1978, she heard about a business in the Hamptons called The Barefoot Contessa.
It was a small 400 foot catering/food store.
She already had a job in Washington DC where she worked as a staff member of the White House working on nuclear energy policy.
What????
Wow!!!!!!
What a….. “There’s got to be more to life than this!” moment for her.
Not only did she buy the business, she moved lock, stock and barrel to the Hamptons (at the end of Long Island ) where she and her husband Jeffrey live to this day.
It turns out that she had no formal training as a chef….she taught herself culinary techniques by studying cookbooks, French and New England where she loved to vacation.
Her business grew over twenty years from a simple specialty food market to an over 3,000 square foot food emporium with over 20 cooks and bakers preparing fresh food daily.
In addition, there were 25 employees who worked the front of the store assisting customers with choosing prepared take home meals, breads, baked goods and specialty salads.
In 1996, Ina Garten sold the store to her employees and then in 2003, the Barefoot Contessa closed it’s doors permanently.
Meanwhile, she wrote cook books and became noticed by the Food Network who asked her to have her own cooking show called The Barefoot Contessa.
So what has this to do with chicken and today’s post?
Well, Ina’s husband Jeffrey worked away from the Hamptons as a professor at Yale School of Management.
Jeffrey always came home on Fridays and according to Ina…Jeffrey always wanted chicken for dinner.
So Ina learned many ways to make chicken and shared her recipes on her television cooking show.
The recipe below is a variation of her recipe she calls,…Chicken with 40 cloves of Garlic and she used 2 whole chickens.
I call my recipe Lemon Chicken with Lots of Garlic and I use the more flavorful thighs….and I add a few more seasonings.
I do not use 40 cloves…but 30 cloves are still a large amount, but it really enhances this chicken dish.
Ina’s ingredients include
And my recipe looks like this:
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 Tablespoons butter
- 30 Garlic cloves, about 2 heads peeled and trimmed
- 1 Tablespoon of combined seasonings to your taste, (salt, pepper, poultry seasoning and sage)
I sprinkle a little of each seasoning on both sides of the chicken thighs.
- 6 chicken thighs
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
- 3/4 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- lemon slices for garnish
I prefer the skin on because it gives such flavor to the chicken. You could remove it after cooking but why would you? 🙂
I also prefer cornstarch for a thickening rather than flour and I add more seasonings because I love the flavors.
If you decide to make this recipe, adapt it to your liking.
It is super easy and super good.
I am not sure The Barefoot Contessa is still on the food network as I have not watched daytime TV in ages. I believe they revised a lot of the hosts, removed some and added others.
Do you have a favorite food network cooking show?
Have a Blessed Day!
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 30 garlic cloves, peeled (from 2 heads)
- 1 tablespoon of combined seasonings including salt, pepper, poultry seasoning and sage
- 6 large chicken thighs with skins
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
- 3/4 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley for garnish
- slices of lemon for garnish
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat olive oil and butter in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat.
- Add the garlic cloves and cook, (do not burn the garlic) this should take about 4 minutes. Remove the garlic as soon as it is lightly browned and place on a plate.
- Remove excess water chicken thighs by blotting with a paper towel. Sprinkle both sides of the thighs with the seasoning mixture and place in the oil in the skillet.
- Slowly brown the chicken on both sides ...this will take about 5 minutes.
- Add 1 tsp each of the thyme an rosemary to one side of the thighs and then flip them over and add the remainder of the rosemary and thyme.
- Scatter the garlic cloves around chicken and place the skillet in the oven for about 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk together the chicken broth and cornstarch.
- Remove the skillet from the oven and place the chicken on a serving plate.
- Add the broth/cornstarch mixture to the hot skillet and simmer over low heat until thickened. (about 1 minute) then stir in the lemon juice.
- Place chicken back into the sauce in the skillet or serve the sauce separately.
- I like to also place a few slices of lemon in the skillet along with the chicken to serve that way because I think it is pretty. sprinkle with chopped parsley if desired.
- You could make individual servings by placing a little of the sauce on a serving plate and then the thigh and then pour more sauce over and around the chicken. Lots of possibilities.
Please comment, I'd love to hear from you.