This classic French dish is sure to impress everyone, and it’s not hard at all to make. Even though there is a ton of garlic, it cooks slowly to flavor the creamy sauce so it’s not overpowering. This dish is rustic, beautiful, and delicious!

There are a ton of recipes out there for this meal, but this is how I’ve always made mine.

Ingredients:

• 40 cloves garlic, peeled
• 8 chicken thighs, bone-in and skin-on
• 1 cup white wine
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 2 tbs butter
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 2 tbs heavy cream
• 2 tbs flour
• fresh thyme

Preheat a dutch oven (a large cast iron pot) with the butter and olive oil over medium heat. If you don’t have a dutch oven, you can use a regular large pot, but the cast iron cooks the chicken better.

While that is heating, season chicken with salt and pepper. I use chicken thighs because they are cheaper and also more flavorful, but any bone-in chicken will work. Brown the chicken on both sides in heated oil and butter, then remove to a plate. You may have to do this in two batches if your pot isn’t big enough. You don’t want to cook the chicken all the way through, just enough to give them good color – they will finish cooking later in the sauce.

While the chicken is browning, peel your garlic cloves. 40 cloves of garlic sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t since they are so small. If you have some larger cloves you can cut them in half. It’s worth the few extra minutes to use fresh garlic and not the kind in a jar – there is a big difference in the taste.

After the chicken has been removed from the pot, lower the heat and add in the garlic, stirring the cloves around to scrape up the chicken drippings. Saute them about 5-10 minutes, until they turn a golden color. Your kitchen will smell amazing!

Next add in the wine and chicken stock, and turn the heat back up until it comes to a boil. If you don’t have white wine in the house, you can use the “cooking wine” from the grocery store (on the aisle with the vinegar), but the kind you would actually drink adds so much more flavor. All of the alcohol cooks out, so don’t worry about your kids getting “buzzed” from this chicken!

After the mixture comes to a boil, add the chicken back in, along with the thyme.

If using fresh thyme, there is no need to take the little leaves off the stem – they will fall off naturally while cooking, and then you can just pull out the stem from the pot. If using dried thyme, only use a small amount since dried herbs are much stronger than fresh.

Put the lid on your dutch oven or pot, lower heat and simmer about 30-45 minutes until chicken is completely cooked. Remove the chicken once again to a plate, along with the thyme stems if you used fresh.

Spoon out about a cup of the the sauce into a bowl and whisk in the flour to it, then add it back to the pot, stirring until the sauce becomes thicker. (If you add the flour straight to the sauce it will be lumpy.) Stir in the heavy cream, then add chicken back to pot and garnish with another sprig or two of the thyme.

This takes a while, but it’s mostly just waiting on the chicken to cook completely. It makes a beautiful dish with so much flavor, and it’s sure to impress everyone!

Thanks y’all!

– Nikki

 

Here in Louisiana, we love our seafood! But when the temperature is close to 100 degrees, outdoors is the last place we want to be while cooking. So … enter the crock pot!

A while back my mother-in-law asked me if I had ever heard of boiling shrimp in a crock pot. I had not, but the idea sounded fantastic, so I looked on Pinterest and found several recipes for it. After weeding through them all, I took bits and pieces from a few of the recipes, as well as adding some of my own ingredients and techniques, and came up with this…

Not only was this super easy, but the kids absolutely loved it! The amount of ingredients that fit into the crock pot was perfect for a family of four.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1-2 lb large shrimp, raw with shell on (I used gulf shrimp)
• 1 bag Zatarain’s crawfish, shrimp and crab boil
• 1 lb smoked andouille sausage, sliced
• 1-2 lb baby red potatoes
• 4 small frozen corn on cob (or 2 large fresh cut in half)
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges
• 1 whole bulb garlic, cut in half (don’t worry about the skin – it will mostly dissolve while cooking, and it’s not to eat anyway, just for flavor)
• 1 yellow onion, quartered
• 2 tsp Tony’s seasoning
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 stick butter
• fresh chopped parsley

Place everything in crock pot EXCEPT for shrimp, lemon, butter and parsley, and then cover ingredients with water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Several of the recipes I looked at called for cayenne pepper, lemon pepper, etc. but I didn’t want this dish to be too spicy for my kids, especially the corn and potatoes. With just the Tony’s and the bag of shrimp boil I thought it was just spicy enough with plenty of flavor, but you can always add any seasoning you’d like.

Last, add in the remaining ingredients and turn crock pot to high. Cook about 30 more minutes, then serve immediately so the shrimp don’t overcook, removing seasoning bag before serving.

The shrimp were perfect, the sausage was delicious, and the corn and potatoes had a sweet taste from the butter and onion but also a savory taste from the spices. I served mine with garlic bread and a pasta salad, and it was a hit with my family!

So next time you’re craving boiled shrimp, remember to get out your crock pot, because this couldn’t be any easier! And it will definitely impress whoever you’re cooking for!

Thanks y’all!

– Nikki