Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

I've seen the recipe a number of times, with minor variations, and I've always been intrigued. Yesterday I finally took to chance and attempted a meal with 3 whole heads of garlic.
http://www.go-at-home.com/recipeDetail.asp?RecipeID=525

Overall I was satisfied with the outcome, but it took way longer than the recipe said, and for some reason nothing in my pot last night decided to brown. Even after I turned the heat up higher and had oil spitting out (note - hot oil in your eye hurts) the chicken just refused to brown. Also, once the chicken was put back in to finish cooking, it took almost twice as long as the recipe stated. Even without these issues, I think it could have used double the amount of thyme, and probably an onion or two. But it did go really well with Pinot Noir.

In addition, I made tomato salad with some of the 85 tomatoes we had. Just sliced some tomatoes, sprinkled fresh basil, salt, and pepper, then drizzled with olive oil and balsamic. Very summery. The other side was red potatoes sauteed in olive oil, butter, and scallions. I wanted it to stay simple with the slightly heavy and complicated chicken. While not my greatest meal ever, I would certainly do it again, but with a few changes.