40-Clove Turkey Thighs
2 tbsp olive oil
3 lbs. turkey thighs
~ 40 cloves of garlic (about two heads), smashed and peeled
half a head of celery, cut into two-inch pieces
1/4 cup dry vermouth (use chicken broth if you don't want the alcohol)
a whole lemon, unpeeled and cut into quarters *
3 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
salt and ground black pepper to taste
* I only had half a lemon, so cut up a lime and added it to this batch. Oranges work well, too.
Serves four.
In a skillet or casserole for the oven:
-- Heat the pan and add the oil. Stir in the garlic, celery and parsley.
-- Salt and pepper the skin side of the poultry, and lay it skin side down in the hot pan. Cook 5-8 minutes or until skin starts to brown.
-- Pour in the vermouth or broth. Squeeze in the juice from the lemon quarters* and then toss the quarters into the pot, too.
-- Cover and simmer on the top of the stove about 1 hour or until poultry is cooked through and celery and garlic are carmelized.
-- Remove the meat from the pan, arrange the vegetables on the side of the meat, and discard the lemon quarters. Pour the pan juices over the poultry and serve.
In the crockpot:-- Layer in the crockpot the oil, parsley, garlic, celery stalks, and salt and peppered poultry, skin side down.
-- Pour the vermouth or broth and lemon juice over the poultry, toss the lemon quarters in the top, and cover.
-- Cook on high 3-4 hours, or until poultry is cooked through. Serve as above.
In a 12" six-quart Dutch oven:
-- Start with around 24 briquets in the firepan (ok, I didn't go nuts counting. 24 briquets more or less fills up the pan I was using as a fire pan, give or take one or two...)
-- Put the DO over the coals to heat it up, and add the oil. Stir in the garlic, celery and parsley.
-- Salt and pepper the skin side of the poultry, and lay it skin side down in the hot pan. Cook 5-8 minutes or until skin starts to brown. Turn the poultry to the unbrowned side.
-- Pour in the vermouth or broth. Squeeze in the juice from the lemon quarters and then toss the quarters into the pot, too.
-- Cover the pan and set it off to the side. Pull 12-14 of the briquets from the firepan and put them on the DO lid (leave around 10 briquets in the firepan to heat the bottom).
-- Every 15 minutes rotate the DO lid a quarter turn in one direction, and rotate the whole oven on the coals in the firepan a quarter turn in the opposite direction. I added five or six coals to the top of my DO after about a half-hour; it was windy and my top fire was burning down too quickly.
-- Check the poultry after at 30 minutes and 45 minutes (two turning cycles.) My turkey thighs were done and the celery and garlic cloves were carmelized after 45 minutes.
-- Remove the meat from the pan, arrange the vegetables on the side of the meat, and discard the lemon quarters. Pour the pan juices over the poultry and serve.
