This summer is going to be the season of Portuguese chicken. Grill it, baste it, rest it and serve with loads of spicy chips and chargrilled corn. What’s better than summer heat? Fresh spicy food, cleansed and cooled with an ice cold beer.
4-8
Serves
3h
Prep
80m
Cook
Ingredients
2kg whole free range chicken, lightly brined
Marinade
- 160ml olive oil
- 8 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 bird’s eye chillies, finely sliced
- 2 tbsps Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsps smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tbsp rosemary leaves
- 1 lemon, juiced
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Dipping sauce
- 125g butter
- 2 bird’s eye chillies, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- Sprig of rosemary
To serve
- Lemon wedges
- 3 corn cobs, cut into 8cm lengths, quartered lengthwise, blanched and chargrilled
- Hand cut fries, herbed salt
Method
1. Prepare the chicken
Put the chicken onto a chopping board, breast side down. Using sharp poultry scissors, cut out the backbone. Spread the chicken open, turn over and press on the breast to flatten. Pat dry with paper towel.
2. To make the marinade
Place all the marinade ingredients into a food processor
(reserving 40ml oil for cooking) and blitz together, season to
taste. Put the butterflied chicken into a flat container, pour over 3/4 of the marinade (the remaining 1/4 will be used to baste during cooking), coating the chicken evenly, especially
massaging under the skin where possible. Cover and refrigerate
for a minimum of 2 hours (overnight will achieve the best results).
3. To cook the chicken
Before cooking, sit chicken at room temperature for 20 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 200˚C. Heat a large oven proof pan over a
medium high heat, add the reserved oil. Sear the chicken, breast
side down, for 5 minutes, until golden brown. Turn the chicken
over and cook a further 5 minutes. Baste the chicken with the
reserved marinade. Cover with baking paper and foil then roast
for 30 minutes, checking halfway through. Add a little water to
the pan if too dry. Remove from the oven, remove the baking
paper and foil, baste with the cooking juices. Return to oven to
roast for a further 20 minutes, basting again after 10 minutes,
until the chicken is cooked though, golden and crispy.
4. To make the dipping sauce
Heat a small saucepan, add the butter, chilli, garlic and rosemary sprig, stir gently until melted. Set aside until needed.
5. To serve
To serve, cut the chicken into 8 and serve on a shared plate
drizzled with pan juices, lemon wedges, chilli butter, corn, hand
cut fries and dipping sauce.
