Spatchcock Chicken

Not the prettiest picture, I admit... And I'm embarrassed to say that with all my cooking, and my love of chicken, I only recently discovered Spatchcock chicken. I always thought it was ... don't laugh... some kind of fowl... like quail or squab. I didn't realize that it was a quicker method of cooking a whole bird! Instead of a usual roasting time of 20-30 minutes per pound, the whole process of roasting or grilling takes a little over 30 minutes! Cooks Illustrated Summer Grilling had a few wonderful stories and recipes. But the bottom line is... cut out the spine and flatten the chicken. How easy is that!

The article and recipe can be found at America's Test Kitchen. It's an Italian version made on the bbq using hot brick and indirect heat.
Unfortunately, my cute Weber Q is small - great for throwing in the trunk and grilling your own picnic lunch or camping dinner... but only one burner, which I suppose I could lower the heat, but decided to go another way... roasting at 500°F/260°C - no brick and my own Basil Pesto rubbed under the skin instead. It took about as long to prep the chicken as it did for the oven to heat up! The super simplest way to cook chicken ever!

Roasted Spatchcock Pesto Chicken

My latest book purchase... Canadian Living: The Barbecue Collection: The Best Barbecue Recipes from Our Kitchen to Your Backyard has a couple of options I'm dying to try too. And did I mention, that whatever your favorite way to roast a chicken... with herbs or spiced, do it spatchcock style and you can have a whole roasted chicken for dinner in a little more than 30 minutes!

Tonight's dinner will be some sort of pasta with roasted chicken, perhaps fiddleheads or asparagus - both awesome finds at Saturday's market. I'll be sharing with this week's host for Presto Pasta Night... Trish of My Slap Happy Kitchen. You can join in the fun too. Just email your post with link & mention to Slap Happy Kitchen and Presto Pasta Nights to trish (at) slaphappykitchen (dot)com with a cc to ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com.