Spatchcocked chicken with chilli, garlic, parsley and almond pangrattato
Spatchcocked chicken with chilli, garlic, parsley and almond pangrattato, a simple, tasty way to cook chicken from Diana Henry's new book, How to Eat a Peach, (Mitchell Beazley, £25).
Recipe information
Yield
Serves 6
Ingredients
Ingredients
For the pangrattato
Preparation
Method
Step 1
Set the bird on your work surface, breast-side down, legs towards you. Using good kitchen scissors or poultry shears, cut through the flesh and bone along each side of the backbone. Remove the backbone and keep it for stock (freeze it until you’ve gathered other bones to cook along with it).
Step 2
Open out the chicken, turn it over so it is skin-side up, then flatten it by pressing hard on the breastbone with the heel of your hand. Remove any big globules of fat and neaten any ragged bits of skin. Now you have a spatchcocked bird.
Step 3
Gently lift the skin on the breast of the bird so that you can put your hand in between the skin and the flesh (try not to tear the skin). Mix the garlic with 1tbsp of the extra-virgin olive oil and some seasoning, then carefully push this under the skin. Cover with cling film and put in the fridge for a couple of hours.
Step 4
Heat the oven to 200°C/fan oven 180°C/mark 6 and take the chicken out of the fridge. Cut the onions into wedges, put into a roasting tin and pour on the remaining 2tbsp extra-virgin olive oil. Set the chicken on top, breast side up, season the outside and roast for 1 hour.
Step 5
Meanwhile, make the pangrattato. Heat the extra-virgin olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and sauté the breadcrumbs for about 4 minutes. Add the almonds, garlic and chilli, and cook for another minute or so. Remove from the heat and mix with the parsley and lemon zest, chopping everything together.
Step 6
Cut the chicken into serving pieces and put it on to a warmed platter, on top of the red onions. Pour any extra cooking juices over the top, scatter the pangrattato over and serve.
