Lemon Garlic Chicken

This lemon garlic chicken is a wonderful dish to prepare when having a couple of friends in for dinner. It's simple and delicious and all of the work is finished before it goes in the oven to cook for 2 hours. I have no doubt it tastes so good in part because we have home raised birds from a neighbor and I use garlic that Rick grows in our own garden, but I think it will be almost as good when you make it yourselves.

1 chicken cut up
2 lemons
1 head garlic unpeeled
(yes, 1 head, not 1 clove)
a few sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped
3 Tbsp oil
2/3 cup white wine
(I used de-alcoholized wine)
pepper

Place chicken pieces in a baking dish. Slice lemons into 8 pieces each. Cut root end from garlic and separate cloves and add to chicken with lemon and rosemary. Drizzle the oil over and toss with your hands to coat evenly. Turn chicken skin side up and spread out evenly in pan. Pour in the wine, sprinkle with fresh ground pepper and cover tightly with foil.

Bake at 325F on centre rack of oven for 1-1/2 hours. Remove foil, increase heat to 400F and continue to cook an additional 30 minutes until chicken skin is golden and lemons begin to caramelize.

Don't worry if there seems to be too much liquid left in the pan, it would taste wonderful over mashed potatoes, although I serve this with oven roasted potatoes.

Enjoy. And if you're ever nearby, ask Rick for a head of his home grown garlic, I think he'd be more than willing to share.