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With a bit of help from my local Butcher he explained how to Spatchcock
the chicken and although fidly its worth doing once youve got the hang of it.

Ingredients

1 spatchcocked chicken (about 1.6kg)
1 bunch of Thyme
1 bunch of Rosemary
8 Cloves of Garlic
8 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 inch piece of Fresh Ginger
Sea salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper
2 Fresh Lemons Sliced(or salted preserved Lemons,if you can source them use them as the salted Lemons really intensify the flavour)





So,now weve got our Chicken laid out in a Roasting dish lets bash the herbs.



Put the whole Cloves,salt and pepper,along with some Thyme leaves and Rosemary pettles in the Pestle and bruise the herbs to extract the flavours as well as breaking them down,once done add the olive oil and stir together.



Make some cuts in the thicker parts of the chicken meat and massage the Herb Marinade all over the bird both sides.
Leave skin side up and grate half of the Ginger over the bird.

I have marinated the bird and cooked it straight away but for a stronger herb flavour I fridge it for 4 hours.

Preheat your oven to 220 degrees(200 in my fan assisted oven),and after seasoning the chicken cook it for 30 mins.



Remove the bird and slice the Lemons.


Place the Lemon slices over the bird and grate the rest of the fresh Ginger,carefullt tilt the cooking tray and spoon over the hot flavoured oils over the bird,return bird to the oven and cook for a further 20 mins or so or untill the chicken is cooked through.



Remove cooked Chicken from oven and let stand for 10 mins.




Serve with Salad or veggies of your choice.

(Note,if Spatchcocking is not your thing this recipe works equally well with Breast,Thigh or Leg Joint pieces,the only difference is I put the joints into a large plastic food bag and tip the marinade in and shake vigorously, seal bag and leave in fridge for 4 hours.)

This is deff one Chicken recipe that eats just as well hot or put in foil and eaten cold the following day.

Enjoy

Gazza

Ahh...what a food again..
I've done chicken with similar flavours before..but rammed the chicken's cavity full with same incredients before roasting...that does look much tastier though.

Looks delicious Gazza.

I always spatchcock chicken and guinea fowl now after realising it cuts down the cooking time - essential if I have'nt been watching the clock while out in the garden and then need a fast Sunday roast for dinner.  Takes me about 2 minutes now thanks to practice and a decent set of poultry shears and we get lovely tasty, tender chuck and variety from using different herbs and spices each time.   

Quote from: Obbelix on September 26, 2012, 13:50:57
Looks delicious Gazza.

I always spatchcock chicken and guinea fowl now after realising it cuts down the cooking time - essential if I have'nt been watching the clock while out in the garden and then need a fast Sunday roast for dinner.  Takes me about 2 minutes now thanks to practice and a decent set of poultry shears and we get lovely tasty, tender chuck and variety from using different herbs and spices each time.

I could do with a decent set of poultry shears, I am still using the ones I bought from Habitat in the 60's and to be honest, they aren't much good

What type are yours, and where did you get them.   

http://thibeaultstablerecipes.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/how-to-bone-out-whole-chicken.html

No Shears,Darkbrowneggs,I use a sharp boning knife and Spatchcock it as per the above link,as that is the closet demo I could find that was as per the Butcher showed me how to do it.

His reasoning for removing all the bones was so that the bird gets up to oven temperature quicker and naturally if your stuffing the bird you can bone  the whole bloomin thing and stuff the bird as per the link recipe,to me its much the same as filleting a fish just keep the knife close to the ribcage so as not to waste meat,just take your time....

Gazza

DBEggs - I got my poultry shears in IKEA some years ago - last a lot longer than their book shelves! - but I've seen them in decent cookery shops and I expect Lakeland do them too.

I do a very basic spatchcock as I find life is too short to do a whole bone out job.    I just snip along the sides of the back bone to remove it whole and then clip off the wing tips.  That all goes in the stock pan.  Then I snip the wishbone either side and Bingo, one flattened chicken, ready to spice up and cook.

We're on a diet at the mo so I also pull off the skin and smother the chuck in a mix of yoghurt and curry spices but it's also good with a few knobs of butter plus salt and herbs or spices if you want a crisp and tasty skin.   I'll be giving Gazza's garlic and lemon a go this weekend.

What have you found the tastiest spice combination with your yogurt Obbelix as to be honest Jude doesnt eat the skin as shes trying to be good whereas I do (on occassion)but im always up for Tasty (slightly better for me) Chicken Recipes...

Gazza

The last one I did was from the Hairy Dieters but added extra ginger and some ground fennel.   It was very good with proper Greek yoghurt and no cream.   Nobody missed the skin.

Otherwise I'll just chuck in the usual suspects in varying proportions - fresh garlic, ginger, chilli and then cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, fennel, mustard seeds, turmeric..........

 

yer Obbelix,just found that one on our Ipad,looks very tasty and jude will be getting a "skin free spice indulgence" very soon.

Gazza

That just looks superb and not too difficult to do either, even if I am going to 'chicken out' on the spatchcock preparations.

Found a packet of marinaded spatchcock chicken thighs (boned and flattened) in the reduced shelf, loved them and thought 'I can do that'.  Perhaps practice on thighs before tackling a whole bird for your recipe.

Thank you for another delish looking recipe suggestion.  Lots of fresh garlic has been harvested and my rosemary bush needs trimming too.  This looks like an interesting way of using both.  Apart from the olives, all the salad ingredients are also still available here - roll on the weekend.  Thanks

A nice use of preserved lemons. In January when I made marmalade I salted some lemons with bay leaves and while I was about it, salted some Seville oranges with cloves and allspice ( and swore about the pips) and limes with chillies. Small quantities have been useful all year as a substitute for salt in a dish. This lunchtime I put a small amount of preserved orange into some red chard spinach to eat with pasta together with nutmeg and butter.