Chicken in a pot with lots of garlic

This is a wonderfully simple dinner. It makes the whole house smell like a hearty meal. and garlic. It comes from a french cookbook John bought me last Christmas by Dory Greenspan but this is kind of my version. For a more simple meal just buy a loaf of crusty bread instead of making one.

Ingredients:
juice of 1/2 lemon **olive oil**2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks **10 small red or white potatoes (if they're bigger, slice them in half **16 shallots (I used them in this one but I rarely do because who has time for all that peeling? Just slice 3 onions into 6 segments**8 carrots, peeled and quartered**4 celery stalks, quartered**4 garlic heads (yes, 4) separated but not peeled (this is wonderful spread on the bread!**salt and pepper **fresh poultry herbs (you can buy that at Kroger or use 3 thyme, parsley and rosemary) **1 whole chicken, 4 lbs, dry and seasoned with salt and pepper**1 cup chicken broth **1/2 cup dry white wine**one recipe of your favorite white bread dough, ready to use (optional)

Preheat oven to 450. heat some olive oil in a large skillet over high heat, add veggies and garlic, salt and pepper and saute until they're browned all over (which I usually have to do in two batches)

spoon veggies into a dutch oven or stock pot with lid and stir in herbs and lemon juice

return the skillet to heat, add more olive oil and brown the chicken on all sides. This is nearly impossible to do without tearing the skin so don't wig out like me if you can't make it picture perfect.

tuck the chicken into the pot surrounding it with the veggies.

mix together the broth, wine, and a tablespoon of olive oil and pour this into the hot skillet that the veggies and chicken were in. Scrape up the good flavor off the bottom of the pan and pour all that deliciousness over the chicken and veggies.
Now, at this point you can just cover it in foil, then the lid and slip it into the oven and serve it with a loaf of store bought crusty bread. (like I did last night.)

I usually cook it for about an hour and 20 minutes because I'm skittish about undercooked chicken and I've never found it to be dry at all after a little longer. (the recipe says 55 minutes)

But, if you want to live on the wild side like me (translation: if you want to make life a little more difficult and stress out your kids who just want to play Chutes and Ladders) then take your bread dough and roll it out into a long snake. Wrap it around the edge of the pot and press down to secure it to the side. Half of the bread will be sealed into the pot, and half out. Press your lid on tightly and keep an eye on it. About half way through baking you'll need to add foil and even then the inside is probably the best part.

The real recipe seals the pot with a flour/water dough that you can't eat. I was seriously let down the first time I read through the recipe to find that out it wasn't eatable. So this is a work in progress. My only extra advice: don't go all healthy and use wheat bread like I did in the picture below. (This whole post is from pictures I took back in March!) It's already hard to keep it from drying out. This isn't the time to use wheat bread. I don't have a picture of the finished product but you'll find that when you break the seal of the bread the most wonderfully cooked chicken and veggies, drenched in tons of juices. Serve this with little bowls for dipping.