This is originally from Alton Brown’s I’m Just Here for the Food but I’ve modified it to suite my lack of oven-safe skillets and my own tastes a bit. =)

Incredients:
4-5 good sized dark chicken quarters (the ones where the drumsticks are attached to the thighs)
10ish cloves garlic, peeled and smashed (one good whack with the flat of the knife should do)
10ish shallots, peeled (I also cut them half)
parsley
sage
thyme
chive
(Brown likes fresh herbage, I’m poor so I use dried.)
salt
pepper
paprika (really just for color)
extra virgin olive oil

big frying pan
casserole dish (with cover)

Method:
-plop a couple tablesploons olive oil into the pan (I have an awesome oil bottle, so I just go around the pan 2-3 times) and turn the burner to medium high/high. also, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
-brush or drizzle-and-rub the chicken with oil too.
-salt and pepper the chicken.
-plonk the chicken, skin side down, into the pan.
– brown the chicken on both sides… this takes a while.
– once chicken has achieved a pretty golden brown color on both sides, arrange in casserole dish. that oil that’s still in your pan? save that.
– add garlic and shallots to pan.
– sprinkle herbs over chicken. I pretty much just shake each herb jar over the dish until I get a good cover.
– remember that hot chicken oil? pour that over the whole mess. try to make sure the oil hits the garlic and shallots too.
– sprinkle with paprika… this is mostly aesthetic, there’s so much other good flavor going on that you can barely taste it anyway. you could also use chili powder or like emeril’s essence, but that’s got stronger flavor so i’d be conservative with that.
– cover the dish, bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

Yup. an hour and a half.

When timer goes off, remove dish from oven, note that your kitchen and possibly your whole house smells AWESOME.

You can serve as is, or you could also shred the chicken up and add it to salad, pasta, or couscous. I bet it also would make wicked good soup, but I haven’t tried that yet.

Enjoy! =)