You’ll need a mortar and pestle for this recipe. You CAN do this in a food processor, if need be. Add your garlic to the mortar.

Add 2/3 of the salt to your mortar. This will act as a gentle abrasive to break down the garlic.

Grind the garlic and salt together until a coarse paste is formed.

Once the paste is formed, it’s time to add the oil. Slowly drizzle it about 1 tsp. at a time, while grinding everything together. When you have ground it together, add more oil.

Repeat the grinding process until a smooth paste is formed. This is called an aioli.

Prepare the chicken; trim off excess grit, but keep the fat on the thighs.

Dry off chicken with some paper towels.

Add the chicken to a Ziploc bag, trying to not overlap the chicken too much.

Add the garlic aioli to the Ziploc bag, trying to spread it on the chicken as much as possible. Seal the bag then, using your hands, apply pressure to the chicken and rub the garlic aioli into the chicken as best as you can. It helps to massage the chicken and move the pieces around as you do.

Marinate the chicken for anywhere from 2 to 10 hours. Once chicken is marinated, remove from fridge. Preheat oven to 425F.

Slice the lemons up thin and create a layer of the sliced lemons on the bottom of a baking pan.

Put the chicken on the top of the lemons, pouring any remaining aioli from the bag on top.

Remove the thyme leaves from the stem. Sprinkle the thyme, rosemary, sage, pepper and remaining salt on top of the chicken. Rub it gently into the chicken.

Bake the chicken for 25-30 minutes, or until the juices run clear. When done, remove chicken from the baking pan and wrap it in some foil to retain heat.

Add all of the pan drippings to a sauce pan. You can use a spoon to gently push any excess juice out of the lemons, to ensure you get all the liquid out of the baking pan.

Bring pan dripping sauce to a boil, while stirring continuously. Once the sauce is at a boil, turn the head to medium-low (or low, depending on your stove) while continuously stirring it.

Let the sauce reduce until it’s a bit thick. Spoon this over the chicken and serve!