“How’s my breath?” from Marta’s Cuban American Kitchen
My dad used to swear by the medicinal properties of garlic.
“Garlic,” he would always say, "is a natural antibiotic.” He usually made this pronouncement as he was pouring olive oil over toasted Cuban bread and spreading garlic over it to make himself a sandwich. Yes, a sandwich. (This is way before it was hip to go to trendy places and dip your focaccia bread in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, but that's not important right now.)
Just like the Greek father’s obsession with Windex in the film, from which I handily stole the name for my own blog =D, my dad was all about garlic.
Toothache?
High Blood Pressure?
Acne?
Cholesterol problems?
Need to repel some mosquitos?
Trouble with vampires?
Nothing good on TV?
Garlic is the answer to all that ails you …especially if you’re Cuban. 
Marta’s Garlicky Chicken
Marinade:
1 large white onion (cut in quarters)
10 (fat!) cloves garlic, mashed with 1 tsp. Salt
½ cup white wine
¼ cup olive oil
2 tsp. Balsamic vinegar
2 ½ lbs. Chicken pieces
Juice of one lime
Black pepper
Ground cumin
Flour (for dusting)
Olive oil
1) In a food processor (or blender) place the onion pieces, about half of the garlicky paste, wine, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar in a blender and grind it up to a coarse mixture.
2) Place chicken pieces in a large freezer ziplock bag and pour in the marinade. Refrigerate for a couple of hours.
3) Preheat your oven to 375° F.
4) Drain the marinade from the chicken and pat dry.
5) Rub the chicken on all sides with the rest of the mashed garlic/salt mixture.
6) Sprinkle the chicken with lime juice, black pepper, and cumin on both sides.
7) Dust the chicken lightly with flour.
In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil (twice around the pan) and brown the chicken pieces quickly on both sides.
9) Place chicken pieces in a roasting pan, skin side up.
10) Cook about 45 minutes, or until juices run clear.
I love garlic in my food… both Cuban and Italian dishes. But would you believe there is a group of Italian chefs crusading against the use of garlic?
“There's a garlic debate raging among chefs and eaters in Italy, and it's not about freshness. It's about eliminating garlic from Italian cooking entirely. Sicilian chef Filippo La Mantia, who has a hot restaurant in Rome, declared that he'll never use it. Like others in his camp, he feels that garlic smells terrible and overwhelms delicate flavors. The antigarlic contigency has a powerful ally in former Premier Silvio Berlusconi whose has a well-known aversion to the stinking rose. Carlo Rossella, a news director for Berlusconi's Mediaset has even started a list of garlic-free restaurants and is pushing for places that serve garlic to have separate, garlic-free menus.”
It is their belief that sophisticated Italians are now using “more butter and very little (or none at all) garlic, whereas, the poorer less sophisticated Italians use “more garlic and very little butter.”
Go figure! They must be liberals….
BTW Thanks for the recipe. Looks delicious.
What's next, pasta-free restaurants? Oh dear God, if ever there was a sign that Italy is dying...
I like the sound of the recipe. I might add some lemon as well for my own variation on it, but it's definitely intriguing.
What? Outlaw garlic??
I'm pretty sure that's a MORTAL SIN.
Someone needs to alert the Pope! =D