This was rustled up from a fridge/cupboard raid on Sunday and it bangs better than your standard roast. As the chicken roasts the fat and juices fall onto the sliced baby potatoes, drenching them as they slowly confit in all that chicken goodness. Not a lot of effort needed for this and spatchcock roasting the chicken gets the cooking time down considerably!
SPATCHCOCK PIRI CHICKEN,CHICKEN FAT CONFIT SPUDS, CAJUN CARROTS AND ROASTED GARLIC & HERB DIP
Total Time1 hr
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Spatchcock Chicken
1 whole chicken
1 tbsp oregano
2 tbsp piri dry rub
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 bottle of piri sauce I use hot nando's
Potatoes
750 grams baby potatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp oregano
salt and pepper
Roasted Garlic and Herb Dip
1 handful fresh parsley finely chopped
1 bulb of garlic this will be roasted with the chicken
4 tbsp Mayo
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper
Carrots
320g carrots
1 tsp cajun spice mix
1 tsp butter
salt and pepper
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180C
For the spatchcock chicken you need to remove the back bone from the whole chicken. To do this turn the chicken breast-side down, using scissors cut up along each side of the backbone, cutting through the rib bones as you go. Open the chicken out, turn it over then flatten the breastbone by pressing down with the heel of your hand. The chicken should be nicely fanned out. Season both sides liberally with salt and pepper.
Slice the baby potatoes lengthways around 1cm thick, tosse them in olive oil, oregano, salt & pepper.
Using a wire rack roasting tray, scatter the potatoes across the bottom of the tray then place the rack on top for your chicken to sit on (all the fat and juices will run down from the chicken to confit the potatoes). Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and massage in the dry rub and oregano. Pop the garlic bulb alongside the chicken and roast for 45min- 1hr, basting the chicken with the piri sauce every 10-15mins.
Peel and slice the carrots down the middle lengthways. Par boil for 3-4 mins. Drain and dry. In a large pan add the butter, 1 tsp of the chicken juices from the roasting tray and the cajun spice mix let that get aromatic for a minute on medium-high heat, then add in your carrots saute for 2 min or until they develop some colour. Season to taste.
For the garlic dip, in a bowl squeeze all the sticky roasted garlic from the bulb and mix with 4 tbsp of mayo, 1tbsp of lemon juice, the fresh parsley and salt & pepper to taste. If the dip is too thick add a dash of water to loosen to your liking.
Serve all together on a platter with the remaining chicken juices and the garlic & herb dip.