Today’s recipe is Garlic Herb Spatchcock Chicken. A dish that can feed a family for one night or provide dinner for the week for a single person.
Garlic Herb Spatchcock Chicken is a tasty dish and very versatile. Whatever is left over after dinner makes for a great salad or sandwich, or my favorite, tacos.
A tasty piece of roast chicken is something I have had so many times, it would be impossible to say how many. It was a traditional Sunday dinner when I was growing up. I can conjure the smell of a tasty roast bird emanating from the oven right now. The skin is my favorite. That thin and crispy, slightly salty skin that disappears soon after placing it in your mouth, is the best partner to the flesh of the chicken.
Almost any side dish will work with Garlic Herb Spatchcock Chicken. Vegetables, salad, rice, potatoes. How about fresh bread and butter, and a nice bottle of wine – the perfect picnic.
Whenever I eat out at a restaurant, I never order chicken. I mean never, but I do make chicken dishes regularly. I guess I see chicken as a dish made at home. Everyone loves chicken. Nonetheless, I do know of a couple of restaurants in New York City that are known for serving great chicken dishes – Dirty French and Rotisserie Georgette. Give them a try the next time you’re in town.
What I like about Garlic Herb Spatchcock Chicken is that it is an any day of the week dish. It can be served as a part of a Sunday supper with potatoes, rice, beans and veggies. Or a weeknight dinner, with quinoa salad perhaps. The opportunities to make a handsome meal with this dish are limitless.
Don’t be concerned with cooking a whole chicken for just yourself either, just remember my single woman/man mantra below.
Single woman/man mantra: Roast a whole chicken on Sunday and eat for the rest of the week.
Garlic Herb Spatchcock Chicken
Ingredients
- 3.5 lb-4 lb whole chicken
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 cups fresh parsley chopped
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- handful fresh thyme
Equipment & Utensils
- Blender
- Sharp cooking shears or knife
- Roasting tin or cast iron skillet
- Aluminum foil
Instructions
- Place olive oil, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper in a blender and blend until ingredients are smooth, then set aside.
- Using kitchen shears cut both sides of back bone to remove it and discard.
- You should be able to open both sides of the chicken and lay it flat with breast side up.
- Press down hard on breast with both hands, to open up chicken to create one flat surface. You should hear the bones crack as you do this.
- Remove excess fat and gristle and rinse off chicken in cool water, and pat dry with paper towels.
- Push your hand under the skin of the chicken, to lift it from them flesh. Try not to pierce the skin or lift it away from the chicken.
- Place a few sprigs of thyme in the roasting tin, then place the chicken, breast up, in the roasting tin on top of the thyme.
- Drizzle two thirds of the blended ingredients over both sides of the chicken and rub it all over.
- Tip the remaining third of the blended ingredients between the flesh and the skin.
- Scatter the rest of the fresh thyme on top of the chicken.
- Cover roasting tin with foil and seal edges, then place in a preheated oven at 400.
- Cook chicken for 50 mins.
- Remove chicken from oven and remove foil. Be careful not to scold yourself with the steam.
- Return chicken to oven and raise the temperature to 425.
- Cook chicken until golden.
- Allow chicken to rest for 5 mins before cutting into 4, 6 or 8 pieces.
