Recipes, Recipes - Pinot Noir
Butterflied Chicken with Lemon & Rosemary
January 29, 2010 by Maria · Leave a Comment
Serves 4, more if there are lots of sides
This version of roast chicken — one of the most sublime foods on earth, if you ask me — comes from Nigella Lawson’s Forever Summer. It’s so simple it almost doesn’t need a recipe.
1 butterflied chicken (organic, or at least free range if you can get it) about 4 pounds
3 long strips of fresh rosemary
Juice of one lemon, plus more to serve
1 red onion
5 or 6 smashed garlic cloves
6 tablespoons oilve oil
Sea salt
Put your chicken in a zip lock bag. Pull the rosemary needles off two of the sprigs of rosemary, roughly chop and add them to the bag. Next cut the lemon in half and squeeze in the juice and toss in the shells too. Cut the onion in eights and add these along with the garlic cloves. Pour in the olive oil, squeeze as much air out of the bag as possible and close. Then I just mix it all together by massaging the bag. Throw it in the fridge for at least 4 to 6 hours, our up to a couple of days. The longer the better.
Nigella recommends cooking this in the oven and I do too. However, you can do it on the grill if it is hot and you don’t want to heat up your house too much.
Either way, let the chicken come to room temperature before cooking. If you’re doing it in the oven, preheat it to 425 degrees. Lay your flattened chicken on a foil lined pan skin up, along with the lemon husks, onion pieces, and garlic (stick some of those under the chicken too). Take the last sprig of rosemary and break it into a few pieces, tucking them between the breast and the leg. Cook for about 45 minutes (I like to baste the chicken with some Pinot gris two to three times during roasting), longer if it is a bigger bird. The skin should be crisp by the time it’s done. Take it out and cover with foil; let it rest for 15 minutes before cutting. Be sure to collect the cooking juices and pass them with the chicken. If you’re grilling you could throw some lemon slices on the grill and let them get slightly browned and caramelized to garnish the platter.
