Spatchcocked Chicken with Lemons

There is nothing better than a simple roasted chicken. Especially a juicy bird with crisp skin and lots of flavor.  This Spatchcocked Roasted Chicken with Lemons is very flavorful, juicy and has a delightful crisp skin. I often roast a whole chicken, rubbing butter (or oil) onto the skin and coating with whatever herbs I have handy, or I’ll place leaves of sage under the skin and fill the cavity with vegetables (that I later discard) then truss the legs and set the entire bird to cook for an hour or so. But more often, I spatchcock the bird which yields a very crispy skin, lots of flavorful pan drippings and has the added bonus of a reduced roasting time.

Spatchcocking is nothing more than a chicken that has been butterflied. Its a very simple technique to master but depending on your weapon tool of choice, will determine how much time it actually takes you to complete. First you must remove the backbone.  The easiest way would be to remove it with a pair of poultry shears by cutting along each side of it, pulling it off and setting it aside for stock. But since we don’t actually own poultry shears or scissors strong enough to cut more than construction paper I used a sharp chef’s knife. This method of de-backboning takes some brute strength and patience. (Neither of which I have much of!)

Start with a chicken that has been cleaned (remove the neck and innards!), washed and patted dry with a paper towel. Set the bird breast side down on a large board with the legs up and facing you.  Insert your knife into the cavity with the blade tip starting at the neck and running to tail along one side of the back bone. With the heel of the blade apply a lot pressure and cut through the small bones all the way up along the side of the backbone. Repeat on the other side of the back bone and remove the entire thing. It usually takes me a while to get through all the small bones so this is where it may take you some time as well and use up some bone breaking energy! Once the backbone is removed you can set it aside and use it to make stock or pitch it. Up to you! (This particular chicken was comical as I had to stand on a chair to get enough leverage and downward strength to force the knife through…even that was not enough and I ended up hitting the knife with the meat tenderizer!  I need the shears!)

Once the backbone is removed, then you can flatten the bird out by pushing down on the breasts and pulling the wings and legs out to each side.

Now it’s ready for butter/oil and herbs. But first, preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. You want to roast the bird at a high temperature to get a crisp on the skin and then reduce the heat to cook the chicken through.

One of my favorite ways to make roast chicken is to use a lot of sliced up lemons, shallots and herbs.  For this chicken I sliced four lemons leaving the seeds in and on a well oiled sheet pan, I placed the lemons in a small layer and placed my chicken directly on top of them. Then I carefully pulled back the skin and slid several slices into each piece.

After the lemons were inside, under and around the bird, I rubbed the entire skin with butter. Then I salt and peppered the bird liberally and added some minced rosemary, thyme, tarragon and sage from my garden (you can use dried as well.) For an extra kick, I also added some garlic powder.

From here the chicken goes into the hot oven to roast for 20 minutes. While this is happening peel and slice 8-10 small shallots in half and toss with a tablespoon of olive oil.

At the twenty minute mark, reduce the heat to 400 degrees F, place the shallots all around and on top of the chicken and roast for another 30 minutes or until the thickest part of the breast reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.

Once the chicken reaches the correct temperature, remove it from the oven, but let it rest on the pan for ten minutes. Cut the chicken up into 8 or 10 pieces (depending on if you want to split the breasts) and arrange on a serving platter.

The very best part of the entire dish is all the crispy shallots and the pan drippings on the sheet pan. I arrange some of the roasted lemons around the platter and scoop up as much of the pan drippings as I can to drizzle over the top of each piece.

Serve with roasted potatoes or rice and a simple vegetable (broccoli or asparagus) and you will have a quick and healthy mid-week meal.