If you’re new here, WELCOME…This is first and foremost a place for recipes, but also where I can dish out expertise on the only thing I truly know about- how to feed your friends. I hope that You Bring The Wine either remains, or becomes, your ultimate tool kit.
The week, we’re talking chicken.
I’ve always loved chicken BUT the moment I learnt how to roast a chicken the way I do here, that was the moment that, for me, the best chicken became roast chicken. I guess not just ‘roasted’, but rather, spatchcocked (don’t worry I’ll talk you through that), covered in butter + salt (under the skin, that’s very important) and served with charred lemon mayo (sounds fancy, is actually incredibly simple).
“PS. Sorry this is coming out on a WEDNESDAY rather than a SUNDAY. Totally my fault, but hey, at least you have some nice reading on your way into work this morning. Luckily, this recipe can be a midweek hero, OR you can save it for this Sunday’s feasting.”
SERVES 4 - 6
TIME 50 MINS
VIBE: Show off with little effort
The when? is a Sunday afternoon ofc.
The why? Because I really believe that once you’ve cooked a chicken like this, you’ll REFUSE to roast it any other way. The breasts don’t taste like dry cardboard from cooking too long, the butter makes the skin crispy and the meat juicy, it LOOKS cool, AND on top of all that, it’s speedier. So yeh, I guess it’s not a hard sell on the why this week.
INGREDIENTS
1.8 - 2kg chicken
50g butter, room temperature
2 lemons
For the mayo
1 bulb garlic
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 lemon
100ml vegetable oil
Serving suggestions:
Roasted potatoes and charred hispi cabbage.
METHOD:
Heat the oven to 220C/200C fan. Spatchcock your chicken. Flip the chicken so it is breast side DOWN on the surface. Use a pair of strong kitchen scissors to cut away the backbone by cutting up each side.
Turn the chicken over and gently press down on the breastbone until you hear a crack. Turn the legs out so the chicken lies flat.
Here’s a little GIF for that…
Mix the softened butter with the zest of the lemon. Season well with salt and pepper.
Use your hands to gently separate the skin from the chicken, the easiest way to do this is to slide your hand under the skin and gently pull it away from the meat. This creates space for the butter- ensuring perfect crispy skin. Press most of the butter into space you’ve created, spread it as much across the surface of the meat as you can. Rub any remaining butter on the outside.
One more little GIF for you here…
Place the chicken on a large baking sheet. Wrap the garlic bulb in foil and place on the sheet next to the chicken. Roast for 35- 40 mins. To check if your chicken is cooked- slide a knife where the thigh meets the body, if the juices run clear- you’re good to go!
Whist the chicken cooks, make the mayo. Add the egg yolk to a bowl. Add a little squeeze from the lemon half into the egg yolk. add ½ tsp of the mustard and whisk together. Whilst you keep whisking, pour in the oil as a continuous light stream, until it comes together to emulsify (this means to thicken) to form a glossy mayo. Add the rest of the mustard and season very generously with salt.
Heat a large frying pan over a high heat. Slice the zested lemon in half, then add all 4 of the lemon halves to the pan, cut side down. Char in the pan until blackened, add the juice of 1 of the lemon halves to the mayo, set the other 3 halves aside to serve.
Remove the chicken from the oven, and leave to rest for aside for 10 mins to rest. Remove the foil wrapped garlic and unwrap, squeeze the golden garlic cloves from their skin into the mayo and whisk well.
Carve up the chicken. Remove the legs by gently pulling them from the breast crown. Then slice down where the bones meet. To separate the thighs and legs, gently pull apart, then slide your knife down between the joint.
Cut the breasts away from the crown by sliding your knife down both sides of the centre bone and then following it down around the ribcage to release the breasts. Cut through the joint where the wing tip meets the breastbone. Save the carcass to make chicken stock! Slice the chicken breast.
Arrange the chicken on a platter, tipping any juices from the tray over the top. Serve with the charred lemon halves and the aioli.
I created a few recipes to be paired with the always delicious @VinsdeChablis so they’ve been popping up in the newsletter over the last few months! The dishes are the perfect partners to this crispy fresh delicious wine. This month, I’ve developed this gorgeous chicken to be paired with their Chablis 1er Cru Bernard Defaix - Vallions 2019, it’s lightly oaked and lemony and extremely drinkable on a rainy Sunday afternoon ft. this epic chicken.
Next week, I’m gonna share my recipe for an actual DREAM winter salad. I also probably shamelessly plug my book, filled with other dreamy winter salad recipes, as the perfect christmas present.
See you all there,
Els x