Thursday, August 28, 2008

Barefoot Bloggers: Butterflied Chicken

I have said many times, I don't really follow recipes exactly unless I am baking. This Barefoot Bloggers entry was no exception. It was chosen for us by Stephany of Proceed with Caution. I was totally wary of this because 1) I have never butterflied a chicken before and 2) What the heck is single ole me gonna do with a whole chicken?? After reading some musings and reviews, I had settled on just doing a couple of chicken breasts. Of course, once I was at the store I changed my mind and bought a whole roasting chicken. I figured I could use the leftovers for salads or something. I vaguely remember watching the episode where Ina prepared this, but I realized once I got to home that I had no clue how to butterfly the thing. A friend tried to explain it to me, but I still didn't get it so I just chopped the chicken into 8 serving pieces. I left the skin on while cooking to keep the chicken moist which did the job, but made it a little messy to eat. This is easily one of the best chicken dishes I have ever made. Since I let it marinate overnight the flavor was present in every bite and the chicken was nice and moist. I sliced a couple of lemons and grilled those up too and the concentrated flavor was amazing. Want to see how the other Barefoot Bloggers fared with their chicken? Click here.


Butterflied Chicken
(Adapted from Ina Garten)

1 organic, free-range roasting chicken
1/4 cup organic, extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons rosemary, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 lemons, thinly sliced

Chop the chicken into 8 to 10 serving pieces and place in a shallow container. In a medium bowl mix the olive oil, lemon juice, rosemary, garlic cloves, salt, and pepper until well combined. Pour the marinade over the chicken and turn the chicken to make sure it is well coated. Marinate for at least 30 minutes at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator.

If marinating overnight, remove from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Preheat a grill to medium high heat. Add chicken and cook for 8 to 10 minutes per side until cooked through.

Add the lemon slices to the grill and cook for 1 to 2 minutes per side.

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12 comments:

Anonymous said...

So what did you do with all the leftover chicken? Mine is in the freezer waiting to be made into chicken noodle soup. Glad you thought it was the best chicken dish ever.
~The Cat's Pajamas

Alicia Foodycat said...

That looks really good! I recently had my first go at butterflying (I think - it's the same as spatchcocking, right?) and it really was not as easy as the guy on youtube made it look!

Prudy said...

That looks wonderful, absolutely wonderful. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Your figs with pistachios and your baked fries look positively scrumptious, too.

Nate @ House of Annie said...

spatchcocking (I just love that word) gets easier over time. You really save money buying whole chickens and cutting them up yourself. I like to save the backbone and keel bone to make stock, usually that same day.

What did you do with the back and keel bones?

Deb in Hawaii said...

Good for you for trying the whole chicken! It lloks great! Since I did a bunch of thighs so I ate this all week for lunch too.

Anne said...

Your chicken looks great... and those figs, wow!

vanillasugarblog said...

I always love coming here to see your newest creation. You can send me any leftovers....ha ha :-)

Suzie said...

Good for you. The leftovers from a whole chicken will make it worthwhile. Your chicken looks delicious.

Esi said...

Hey everyone! Thanks for stopping by :)

Cat - I had chicken on pizza, salads, and quesadillas. I think I am officially chickened out now - at least for the next week or so.

Annie - The stock thought came to me a little late so by then I had already discarded the backbone and keel bone, but I used the rest of the bones to make a stock.

NKP said...

Looks wonderful, what a great idea to grill the lemon slices.
It would be great with the garlic fries you have below! Yum.

Anonymous said...

that looks divine!

Teresa Cordero Cordell said...

Esi, the butterflied chicken looks divine. I tried doing this once with Jerk seasoning. I think I used too much. I like your recipe much better. Thanks for the great post.