So called addictive spatchcock chicken with roasted roots and cauliflower

Roast chicken is such a simple dish, but also tasty and versatile. You can eat it as it it or serve it with pretty much anything and make a wide varieties of meals out of one base ingredient. Back in the day I used to quarter the chicken and grill it with seasoning. It took and hour and always came out pretty perfect. Since then I have learned to roast a whole chicken, normally at a slightly lower heat and for 1.5-2 hours, depending on the size of the bird.

Spatchcock chicken is something I have heard a lot about and lately they have cooked it on a few food programmes on TV. Now it was my turn to try. Because I had never done it before, I entered the Pinterest jungle for recipes and stopped dead in my track when I came across 'heroin chicken'. No, they didn't suggest cooking with heroin, but claimed the meat was so tasty that it was addictive. I like tasty food and although the ingredients appeared a bit too basic to make anything additive, I was hoping the marinating time would make a difference. 

Olive oil, parsley, garlic, lemon (I used lime) juice and zest, salt and masses of black pepper mixed into a marinade and left to do its job for 48 hours was meant to make magic. The 2-3 tbsp of partly crushed black pepper worried me a bit and although my fear wasn't realised, I wouldn't use so much again.

So, the big question... Was this spatchcock chicken as additive as heroin? Definitely not. It wasn't even as good as a regularly roasted bird. It was nice enough and quite tasty, but nothing too special. I also bit into a pepper corn, which wasn't the highlight of the day. Saying that, considering the amount of black pepper in the marinade, it was a wonder that I didn't end up chomping on more than one.

The spatchcocking was meant to reduce the cooking time drastically. Did it? No, it didn't. I ended up cooking this 1.6 kg bird for over 1.5 h, even though the recipe said it would be done in just under an hour. The only benefit with cutting the bird open like this would be that the marinade could be rubbed into the inside of it as well, but in all honesty, it didn't make much of a difference. Will I spatchcook a chicken again? Probably not. I'd rather roast it in a traditional way or quarter it and grill it, like I used to do.

Should you want to try this 'addictive' spatchcock chicken, this is what you need:

1 chicken, spatchcocked

2-3 tbsp black peppercorns, partially crushed

4 tbsp olive oil (The recipe called for 7, I used 4)

2-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped (I used 4)

juice and zest from a lemon or lime

plenty of salt

parsley

1. Spatchcock the chicken by cutting the spine off with a pair of kitchen scissors, flip of over and press down to flatten it.

2. Partially crush the peppercorns with a pestle and mortar.

3. Chop the garlic and grate the citrus zest.

4. Mix the olive oil with citrus juice and zest, garlic, pepper and parsley.

5. Rub the entire chicken with plenty of salt, then pour half of the marinade into the cavity of of the bird. Rub it in.

6. Flip the bird over, pour the rest of the marinade on and rub it in. Make sure the entire bird is properly covered in marinade.

7. Wrap the bird up tightly and leave in the fridge to marinate for 48 hours. I used a zip lock bag.

8. When you are ready to cook, warm the oven to 175 degrees and spread out the chicken onto the mesh above an oven tray. I lined the tray with tin foil to make washing up a lot easier.

9. Cook until the juices run clear and the joints come apart without effort, at least an hour. I cooked mine for more than 1.5 hour, but it was a large bird. It was flipped over once during cooking. Once cooked, cover and set aside to rest.

10. Sort your trimmings out. We had leftover boiled new potatoes in the fridge. I poured the grease from the chicken into the oven tray and used it to roast potatoes, carrots and cauliflower. If I hadn't used tin foil, some of this grease would have burnt into the tray and been useless for the vegetables. 

11. Roast the roots and cauliflower for approximately 25 minutes at 200 degrees.

12. Dish up and enjoy. 

It was a hot day, so we didn't fancy gravy. Instead a dollop of hummus served as a nice 'sauce'.