Chicken with 34 cloves of garlic

... well, it was three heads and I wasn't prepared to start another head to get to the more traditional forty cloves!

This isn't quite the same as the other recipes I have seen, it's a hybrid of several with a bit of extra me. My input was the addition of the potatoes - why wouldn't you cook your spuds in all those delicious garlicky juices?

Chicken with 34-ish cloves of garlic (serves 4 - 6 depending on number of spuds)

3 heads of garlic, separated into individual cloves and peeled. If Martha Stewart's trick works for you, this is the perfect time to employ it. It doesn't work for me. It's a fiddle but it's so much more pleasant to eat.
75ml olive oil
1 whole chicken
150ml dry vermouth
250ml chicken stock
2-3 sprigs rosemary
2-3 sprigs thyme
2-3 small, floury potatoes per person, peeled

Pre-heat the oven to 175C.

In a large (large being big enough to hold a whole chicken and 6-12 potatoes), flameproof casserole with a lid, heat the olive oil and brown the chicken, breast side down, then turn breast side up. Add the other ingredients, the liquid should cover the potatoes but not totally submerge the chicken. Bring the liquid to the boil. Cover tightly and put in the oven for an hour or so, until the potatoes are cooked through and the chicken is tender. Serve with a green vegetable or a salad (we had some wilted spinach with a squeeze of lemon juice).