Spatchcock Free Range Chicken
with garlic and coriander
Spatchcock chicken - Here's one I prepared earlier
Until recently I use to cook all my chickens in the traditional manner, whole. But always found the breast to be slightly dry even when I stuffed various pastes under the skin or doused the chicken in different marinades.
But ever since I cooked a whole chicken spatchcock style I have been converted, especially when cooked first on a very high heat then reduced to about 160°C. The meat literally falls of the bone and the breast remains moist to eat.
A spatchcock chicken use to be referred to as an immature culled male chicken but is more commonly referred to these days to a type of preparation technique. To prepare the chicken either take a strong scissors or sharp knife and cut along the back bone then turn the chicken over and flatten in a cooking tray as shown in the picture.
This chicken is excellent when cooked as a summer dish and served with couscous or salad.
Ingredients
Serves 4
1 Whole Free Range Chicken about 1.8kgs
Marinade
1 bulb of garlic (about 14 cloves) peeled and chopped
1/2 tsp salt (Halen Môn)
1 birds eye chilli (optional) chopped
1 1/2 tsp of rosemary (if you have fresh rosemary growing in your garden take a sprig of rosemary about 4 cm long. Take off the leaves and chopped.
2 bay leaves chopped
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp of cumin seeds
1/2 tsp of pepper corns
2tbs Welsh Rapeseed Oil (Blodyn Aur)
Bunch of fresh coriander chopped finely
2tbs soy sauce
This marinade is good to get rid of some of that frustration out of your system. In a pestle and mortar place the garlic and salt and start pounding, then add each ingredient in turn until you have a paste. Alternatively you can blitz the ingredients in a food processor. Pierce the breast and legs a number of times, smear the paste over the breast, legs and wings and pour 2 table spoons of soy sauce all over. Place in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours, but preferably overnight to marinade.
When you are ready to cook place the chicken in a baking tray with a bath of about 500 ml of water. Place two carrot halved underneath to lift the chicken slightly this will help prevent the chicken catching on the tray. Place foil on top and place the chicken in the top half of a preheated oven at 200°C. Cook for 20 minutes and then reduce the heat down to 160°C for about 1 1/2 hours. About 20 minutes from the finished cooking time remove the foil. If the water has evaporated add some more.
When cooked remove from the oven, replace the foil and let to rest for about 10 minutes. Before serving cut the chicken up by using a large sharp knife, the chicken at this point should come apart quite easily. With the knife, cut the leg in half so that you have a drum stick, then cut the remainder of the leg at the joint next to the body of the chicken. Next cut the wings at the joint next to the body of the chicken and then separate the two breasts. Finally place the 8 sections of the chicken on a warm serving plate.
