Serves 4
Recipe
from Everyday Food
Husband-Tested
in Alice’s Kitchen
Mother was returning from her trip to Mexico. We were to pick her up from the airport. The weather in Mexico had been quite hot, but she was coming home to temps in the 30's, so I thought I'd roast a chicken to welcome her home and to warm her belly. I prepped the chicken in the morning and then popped it in the oven when we returned from the airport. By the time she had unpacked and changed her clothes, the chicken was coming out of the oven. The potatoes and onions roast underneath the chicken and so they are flavored by the juices from the chicken. My, my, was it all good. I had never "spatchcocked" a chicken before, but I watched a how-to video and found it was really easy to do. Spatchcocking a whole chicken basically flattens the bird so that it cooks evenly and quickly. You'll need a good pair of kitchen/poultry shears and a strong grip. I used the chicken back to make a simple stock for later.
Ingredients
1 whole chicken (3 1/2 to
4 pounds)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin
olive oil
Coarse salt and ground
pepper
1 ½ pounds Yukon Gold or
new potatoes, cut into ½ -inch-thick rounds or chunks
1 large red or yellow
onion, cut crosswise into ½ -inch-thick slices and separated into rings
Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees, with rack in upper third.
Place chicken, breast side down, on a work surface. Starting at thigh end, with
kitchen shears, cut along one side of backbone, then the other side. (Discard
backbone or freeze it for stock.) Open chicken like a book and flip it over.
Press firmly on breastbone to flatten. Rub chicken all over with 2 teaspoons
oil and season with salt and pepper.
Line bottom of a
broiler pan with foil. (This just makes cleaning up a bit easier.) Add one sheet of parchment on top of the foil. Drizzle parchment
with 2 teaspoons oil and arrange potatoes in a single layer, turning to coat.
Top with onions and season with salt and pepper. Cover vegetables with slotted
top of broiler pan and place chicken, breast side up, on top. Roast until
chicken is cooked through (a thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh,
avoiding bone, should read 165 degrees), 35 to 40 minutes. Let chicken rest 5
minutes before serving.
Divide potatoes and onions
among four plates and serve alongside chicken.
Here, the chicken and potatoes are served Ruby Salad with Crumbled Feta Cheese and Spicy Pepitas. Yummy! |
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