No fail crispy & juicy roast chicken

# Eat Plentiful 29

I failed you and I am sorry, I didn’t turn up to last week’s date. I’m very much a live in the moment type of person which means that I when I am enjoying myself, nothing else matters and I just want to make it last. Last week was a bank holiday here in Portugal and we decided to go and explore inland, it was incredible. We spent 4 days swimming in lakes, cooking on fire and just enjoying being in nature…and I decided to not make an appearance in your inbox.

The joys of Portugal take many shapes and form, ‘frango asado’ being one of them. Being half French, I thought our rotisserie chickens were the best but I have had a change of heart and there’s no going back.

The Portuguese eat their chicken spatchcocked (butterflied/ without the backbone). You might ask yourself why my friends:

• It cooks faster - Spatchcock chicken cooks more evenly as it's on a level surface, so the breast and thigh meat are done at the same time.

• Skin is crispier all over - The entire surface area is exposed to heat, which results in more crispy, golden brown skin. If like me, crispy chicken skin is a favourite of yours this is a deal maker.

Either ask your butcher to do it for you or do it yourself at home. You will never regret buying a goof pair of kitchen scissors, there will always be a use for them. And if you don’t think you have the heart to cut out the backbone of the chicken, maybe just stop eating meat.

How to spatchcock a chicken?

Pat the chicken dry so it isn’t slippery, position the chicken breast-side down and remove the backbone by cutting down either side of it. With a good pair of scissors, you should have no problem cutting through, you might need to use a little extra muscle when you get to the thigh-to-backbone connection. Once the backbone is removed, you can flip over the bird and flatten it, use two hands to press directly down on the breast of the chicken (skin-side up).

Chicken is not my meat of choice to cook at home but there is something special about a whole crispy, gold roast chicken in a puddle of garlicky, lemony, herby pan juices. This recipe is foolproof, no thermometer required , no brining required , just you and your spatchcocked chicken.

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Crispy & juicy no fail roast chicken

Serves 4

10 minutes prep time/ 45mins cook time

Ingredients:

• 1.2kg whole chicken, spatchcocked

• 2 courgettes, sliced in thick finger size wedges

• 1 large aubergine, sliced in 1cm thick rounds

• 1 garlic bulb

• 2 onions quartered

• 2 lemons halved

• Thyme

• Rosemary

• Olive oil

• 100gr softened butter

• salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Heat the oven to 200C/fan

2. To a big roasting pan, add your courgettes, aubergines, thyme, rosemary, lemon halves, garlic cloves and a big splash of olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well with your hands.

3. Finely slice 2 cloves of garlic, and mix with the thyme into the softened butter. What you are going to do now is get your fingers between the skin and the meat and try and get as much butter as you can in there. This flavours the meat and allows the skin to crispy up nicely. Nestle the chicken on top of the veg skin side up and season with salt and pepper.

4. Roast in the middle of the oven for about 45 minutes or until cooked through and the juices run clear. Resist the urge to baste the chicken whilst its cooking, it will stop the skin from crisping up but keep those juices for serving once the bird is carved up.

5. Once cooked, place the chicken onto a chopping board and cut it putting your new kitchen shears to use. Squeeze the juices of those lemons into the tray and place the chicken back into the tray, skin side up.

I served mine with some brown rice which I cooked separately and then added to the tray just before serving so it soaked up all those juices. Never be afraid to buy too big of a chicken, there’s nothing better than cold leftover chicken, green salad, a baguette and a good mayonnaise the next day.

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Restaurant of the month - Restaurante Adraga

In case you head to Lisbon any time soon, Praia Adraga is one of my favourite beaches, it’s wild, it’s never packed, there is lots to explore and most importantly it has a great restaurant on it. There is a reason why it is fully booked most weekends, they serve up good quality, honest food, mainly seafood. More particularly they do a fantastic grilled turbot, always perfectly cooked, served with a simple side of new potatoes and tomato salad. Thank me later.