Pollo al ajillo

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Pollo al ajillo

Smash the garlic

This dish could be eaten as a tapa, starter or even as a main course. There is plenty of garlic sauce that is wonderful for dipping bread.

Originally, the garlic was the poor man's ingredient and the chicken the rich man's. Nowadays, with intensive farming, the chicken is cheaper than the garlic.

Ingredients

• 10 fat garlic cloves (unpeeled)
• ¼ cup Spanish extra-virgin olive oil
• 12 chicken wings, halved at the joint
• 3 springs of freshly picked thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• ¼ cup Spanish Manzanilla sherry
• ¼ cup chicken stock
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

1. Using a cleaver, a small frying pan or even your bare hands, smash the garlic cloves and split them open. Leave them unpeeled
2. Heat the oil in a large pan or even a wok and sauté the garlic over a medium-high heat until it's lightly browned. This should take about 3 minutes
3. Add the chicken wings, turn the heat up a little and sauté until brown all over and properly cooked, another 5 to 10 minutes
4. Add the thyme, bay leaf and the sherry and chicken stock and bring back to the boil and immediately reduce the heat and simmer for a minute or so
5. Season to taste with salt and pepper

Serving suggestions

We had this as a main course with added mange tout, split baby sweetcorn, Onion and garlic loaf and a Sour cream and spring onion dip

Variations

Sauté a selection of vegetables or wild mushrooms with the chicken. See also Pollo en salsa de ajo.

See also

• Get chicken pieces the economical way, joint the chicken yourself