butterflied chicken grilled on a bed of thyme

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Cleaning out old magazines always unleashes some amazing recipes. This weekend was no exception. I found this tasty gem from a Fine Cooking magazine. The best part about this recipe is the butter and mustard mixture you put under the skin. This was the most delicious and tender chicken and a great way to kick of grilling season. Will have to do this again and play around with the herbs in the butter mixture.

chicken

I have used the butterfly or spatchcocking method to cook a chicken before. All you need to do is remove the backbone and then flatten the chicken by breaking the breastbone. Doing this helps cook the chicken faster and more evenly. I hear it is great when you do this with the Thanksgiving turkey too. If you want to give a try check out my other post that demonstrates how to cut the backbone out of the chicken. It is less scary than you think, though it sounds like a Dexter episode.

 

everyday food

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I have loved the magazine Everyday Food for a long time. They always had great easy recipes for the weeknights. When I got the letter a few months ago that the magazine wouldn’t be continuing in the same form and instead I would be receiving Martha Stewart Living. I was very disappointed. So much so I burned the letter in the fireplace. I was however very happy to see an Everyday Food supplement with my magazine this month. So excited that I have already cooked from it and it has only been in the house for 3 days. I wish I could say the same for the other magazines in the pile on my desk. I adapted the recipe for prosciutto-wrapped chicken with fennel to fit what I had in the kitchen. The bird looks a little funny in the picture because the recipe requires you to remove the backbone and flatten the chicken so it cooks faster.

Removing the backbone is called spatchcocking. You can easily remove the backbone with a pair of kitchen shears.

Just prepare your self for the sound of cracking bones. It is a bit weird the first time but once you get used to it is easy to do. When you are done flip the chicken over and crack the breastbone to make the chicken lay flat. If you don’t get it flat and even it won’t cook as evenly as you want and may take longer.

This is what it should look like after you have flattened it and covered it in prosciutto. The recipe called for apple, fennel and leeks. I only remembered fennel when I was trying to shop from memory but you can substitute a lot of vegetables. Anything that you can roast in the oven will work well here. I used sweet potato, carrot and fennel.

I had the dish completely prepped while I was waiting for the oven to preheat. I didn’t get the bird as flat as I would have liked so it took a little longer than 40 minutes.

Prosciutto-wrapped chicken with vegetables

adapted from prosciutto-wrapped chicken with fennel in March issue of Everyday Food

1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds)
salt and pepper
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 small sweet potatoes, cut into equal size pieces
1 bulb of fennel, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
olive oil
1/4 pound of thinly sliced prosciutto, about 8 slices
sage leaves or dried sage

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Remove backbon from chicken. Flip chicken breast side up. Press firmly on the breastbone to flatten. Season both sides with salt and pepper.

2. Place chicken on a rimmed baking sheet. Toss vegetables with 2 Tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and scatter around chicken. Cover chicken with prosciutto, overlapping slices and tucking underneath. Toss sage with olive oil and scatter on top. Roast until prosciutto is crisp, chicken is cooked through (an instant-read thermometer registers 165), and vegetables are tender, 30-40 minutes. Tent with foil and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

This came out of the oven extremely moist and flavorful. Since all of the vegetables cook at the same time it is a very easy weeknight meal.
What is your favorite meal for the weeknights?