My son Jimmie ran across a recipe from Natasha’s Kitchen that he thought well worth sharing.
“I fixed this the other night and it was damned good,” he said. “The only thing I did differently was to brine the chicken for 4 hours (should have been longer) but it turned out GREAT – crispy skin, juicy meat perfectly done and the veggies were just as good. Cutting large carrots into 1 inch pieces, I thought that they would turn to mush, but they still had a little crispness to them.The butter makes it even better.”
Spatchcock, of course , is a term for butterflying a whole chicken, removing the backbone and cooking it spreads eagle. As Natasha notes, a whole roasted chicken can be tricky because the chicken breast can quickly dry out by the time the dark meat is cooked through, but when you butterfly a chicken (spatchcock), the chicken breast sits lower in the pan on the same level as the legs so it bakes more evenly and results in a juicy, moist and flavorful chicken.
Ingredients for Natasha’s One-Pan Chicken Dinner:
2 lbs. medium red potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
3 medium carrots peeled and quartered
8 oz Brussels sprouts trimmed and halved
Flavored butter ingredients
4 Tbsp unsalted butter softened
1 Tbsp, olive oil plus more to drizzle
1 Tbsp parsley finely chopped
2 garlic cloves minced
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp salt plus more for vegetables
1/8 tsp black pepper
- (Preheat oven to 425˚F. Place the chicken breast-side down with the wings/ neck facing towards you. To remove the spine, use kitchen shears to cut through the ribs right next to the spine along both sides. Open rib cage and use a heavy knife to score down the sternum. This will help pop out the breastbone and flatten chicken. Season inside the chicken with 1/2 tsp salt and a pinch of black pepper.
- Flip the chicken over breast side up and set on parchment-lined, rimmed baking half sheet. Using the palm of your hand, push firmly over the breastbone forcing the chicken to lay completely flat. Use your thumbs to separate the skin from the meat over breast, thigh and drumstick areas.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the flavored butter ingredients. Mash with fork for a couple of minutes until lemon juice is mostly incorporated into butter.
- Spread 2/3 of mixture under the chicken skin and dot/spread remaining butter all over chicken.
- Place prepared vegetables all around the chicken and drizzle everything with olive oil. Sprinkle chicken and vegetables generously with salt and some black pepper to taste.
- Bake uncovered at 425˚F for 45 min or until instant read thermometer reads 160˚F when inserted into thickest part of chicken breast. Remove from oven and rest uncovered 10 minutes on a cutting board before serving.