pollo al ajillo

Been making a French version of this dish before -- the 40-clove chicken in one of the recipes below -- but this recipe is based on the one by Pete's Pans and The Academy. Glad how I got the sauce wonderfully emulsified in this one. Also used the Instant Pot as I needed the chicken meltingly soft (post-dental surgery soft diet). 

Ingredients

600g chicken (with skin and bone), cut into serving pieces
350 mL white wine

2-3 garlic bulbs, peeled

olive oil

juice of one lemon

pimenton de la vera

salt and black pepper

1. Marinate chicken in lemon juice, salt, pepper and pimenton. Set aside for about an hour. 

2. On Saute, saute some of the garlic cloves and black pepper in the olive oil to transfer their aroma. Use enough olive oil for your chicken. When the garlic is a bit blistered, take them out of the pot. 

3. Brown the chicken pieces in the olive oil. All of them. Brown them well to get some good Maillard reaction going, but no need to cook completely. Transfer the chicken to another container. You will notice some burnt/sticky bits in the botom-- this is good. You want this. 

4, In the oil and still on Saute, fry all the garlic bulbs (including the ones you fried in step 1) until they're aromatic and blistered. Add the white wine, bring to a simmer, and stir/scrape the bottom with a spatula. You want to scrape all those sticky bits and get them dissolved in the wine/oil mixture. 

5. When you've cleared the bottom, put back all the chicken in the pot, trying to make them stay in one level and all touching the liquid. The blistered garlic cloves can stay in the bottom. Pressure cook on High for (or Poultry setting) for about 25 mins. 

6. When pressure cooking is done, let it natural release for about 15 mins then quick release to open the pot. Then back to Saute to reduce the sauce to an appropriate thickness. 

Ideally the sauce should be wonderfully emulsified with the oil, wine and disintegrated garlic, almost with a creamy texture. But this dish is quite forgiving and at worst you will have some split but very flavourful sauce.