Butterflied Garlic Herby Chicken with Olive Sauce
Butterflied (or spatchcock) chicken is such a quick and easy way to cook a whole chook for the family. It speeds up the cooking time and can be done in the oven or on the BBQ, plus I feel like it makes it even easier to pack a whole heap of flavour into the bird!
Prep: 10 minutes - Cook: 30-40 minutes - Serves: 4 - Difficulty: Easy - Recipe: Hayden Quinn
Ingredients
1 Whole Chicken, butterflied*
Chicken Marinade
4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
Bunch oregano, leaves only
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup Coolmunda extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and pepper, to taste
Olive Sauce
1 cup Coolmunda green olives, pitted olives, crushed and coarsely chopped
Bunch parsley, roughly chopped
2 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp coriander seeds, lightly toasted
4 anchovy fillets
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbs red wine vinegar
Notes
* To butterfly a chicken. Place the chicken, breast-side down, on a board so the back is up and the legs are pointed toward you. Using solid kitchen scissors cut along each side of the backbone. This may take a little bit of work, once done, remove and discard the backbone. Flip the chicken so that it is now breast side up and press firmly on the breastbone to flatten.
* The chicken can also be cooked in the oven at home, place the chicken on a wire rack in a baking tray at 220C and cook until done (approx. 35-40mins)
Method
Step 1. Preheat your BBQ to a medium high heat*. While BBQ is heating remove chicken from fridge and place on a tray or board. Bring together the chicken marinade by combining all ingredients in a medium sized bowl, mixing well. Thoroughly coat the chicken with the marinade, rubbing all over, both skin and cavity. Set aside covered until ready to cook.
Step 2. Cook the chicken on the BBQ with hood down, starting breast side up. This will set the skin slightly and also allow for a more gentle cooking of the breast meat. After about 20mins flip the chicken and continue cooking breast side down for a further 10 mins or until fully cooked.
Step 3. During the chicken cooking process make the olive sauce. This can be done in a large mortar and pestle or if you don't have one of these, all the ingredients can be mashed together in a large bowl using a fork.
Step 4. Remove chicken from heat, placing on a serving platter or large board to rest. At this point, generously spoon over the olive sauce so that the heat from the chicken activates all the flavours in the sauce. Allow chicken to rest for at least 10mins before carving.
