You’re probably thinking that ripping a chicken in half has almost zero to do with the romance of February, but I need you to roll with me here.
This recipe is designed specifically for two in every way. It’s designed for two people to prepare and for two people to enjoy, which makes it the perfect choice for Valentine’s Day. If you make this juicy, fragrant, and charred chicken for your Valentine’s meal, while one of you prepares the marinade and cuts potatoes, the other can halve up the chicken; a cooking duet which creates a little symphony of romantic teamwork in the kitchen. Cute, right?
The chicken is also split down the middle equally which means both of you get all the bits of the bird you like. I prefer the thigh and wing and unfortunately so does my partner, so I’d be lying if I said this recipe wasn’t also devised to avoid the standard chicken-related squabbles over who gets what bits. So, this recipe means everyone is fully involved, fully engaged, and fully satisfied, which let’s be honest, is the whole point of Valentine’s Day really. Just make sure both of you do the dishes, because leaving that to one person is a liberty.
And hey, if you’re single, you can cook one half of the chicken and freeze the other for another day. Or eat both halves, we’ve all been there. This chicken excludes no one. Except vegetarians and vegans. Sorry guys.
Serves 2 (but could be 4… or 1…)
1 x small chicken (roughly 1.25kg)
3 large oranges
1 lime
2 cloves garlic
100ml soy sauce
3 tbs olive oil
Approx 2 tbs fresh thyme leaves
200 – 250g new potatoes
- First you need to halve the chicken, which sounds more of a pain than it is. All you need to do is put the chicken on a cutting in board in front of you, breast side down and back bone up. Using some good scissors (or a knife, but only if you’re confident with your hands) cut down each side of the backbone (the thick knobbly strip in the middle) lifting it as you go for ease. Put the backbone in the freezer and use it to make a stock on another day (Google a recipe for this, because I only have a small wordcount here).
- Once the backbone is removed, flip the bird over so that it’s breast side up, and using your hands, press down on the chicken until you hear a crack. A gross but satisfying noise. Congratulations – you’ve just spatchcocked a chicken, but we still have one more bit to go. Using a knife, slice through the centre of the breast through the skin, cutting from top to bottom until both halves separate equally. There we go. Sounds brutal, but do it once, and you’ll want to do it forever, I promise.
- Place both halves of the chicken into a large Ziplock bag, but if you don’t have a bag large enough, a pot with a lid will do fine.
- Into a jug, take two of the oranges and grate their zest with a fine grater and squeeze in the juice. Do the same with the lime as well. Using the same fine grater, grate in the garlic cloves. Pour in the soy sauce, add one tablespoon of the olive oil, and throw in one tablespoon of the thyme leaves. Add some salt and pepper and mix everything together thoroughly with a fork.
- Pour this evenly over the chicken halves, making sure the marinate covers as much of the chicken as possible, zip up the bag (or put the lid on the pan) and leave to marinate. You can do this for 30 – 45 minutes on the countertop, but ideally overnight in the fridge. If you’re choosing the fridge, I like to turn the chicken around a few times in the bag so that it can marinade all over.
- When you’re ready, preheat the oven to 200°C and bring the chicken to room temperature, if you’ve kept it in the fridge.
- Halve the potatoes and place them in a medium sized roasting tray or a large skillet. Grate over the zest of the remaining orange, cover them in the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, and scatter over the remaining thyme leaves with some salt and pepper. Rustle them about with your hands so that they are evenly covered, and put them in the hot oven for 15 – 20 minutes so that they are slightly cooked.
- Take the potatoes out of the oven and then place the chicken halves on top of them, skin side up, pouring a little bit of the marinade on top of the chicken halves. Put the pan or skillet back in the oven for 45 – 50 minutes until the chicken is bronzed and golden, even charred in some spots, and the potatoes are tender-bellied but still crunchy. If you want the potatoes crunchier still, remove the chicken to rest on a wooden chopping board and cover it in foil, and put the potatoes back in the oven for a further 5 – 10 minutes on a higher heat while the chicken rests.
- Serve the chicken with the potatoes, scattering over some more thyme leaves if you have any left, and with nothing more than a lightly dressed green salad on the side.
MIKEY AND THE KITCHEN. 