Serves 4-6
Spatchcocking a chicken means taking out its backbone and flattening it so that most of the skin comes into contact with the grill, giving you a lovely juicy bird. Ask your butcher to do it for you or simply grill chicken thighs.
1 large chicken
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
80ml extra-virgin olive oil
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2 large red onions, cut into thick wedges
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm slices
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp marjoram, chopped
1 green chilli, sliced
75g raisins
250ml chicken stock or water
100ml cider vinegar
2-3 tbsp brown sugar
180ml sherry
1 cinnamon stick
5 whole allspice
4 tbsp pine kernels, toasted, to serve
Flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, to serve
1 Preheat oven to 180C/Gas 4. To spatchcock the bird, take a pair of sturdy scissors (meat scissors are designed for this job) and snip all along the length of the backbone on both sides to cut it out. Put the bird on a chopping board and press down sharply and firmly on to the breastbone so that it flattens out. Season well with salt and pepper and rub with two tablespoons of the olive oil.
2 Turn on the extractor fan to full (griddling creates huge amounts of smoke) and heat a griddle pan or barbecue and brown the chicken on the breast side until golden, 6-8 minutes. Turn over and cook on the other side until golden, then transfer to the oven for 10-15 minutes to cook through.
3 To make the escabèche or marinade, pour the rest of the olive oil into a hot frying pan and cook the onions and garlic until soft. Add the carrots, bay, marjoram, chilli and raisins and cook for 5 minutes more until the carrot starts softening. Stir in the stock, cider vinegar, sugar, sherry, the cinnamon stick and allspice and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes until the sauce has turned rich and syrupy. Check for seasoning and add more sugar or vinegar depending on the flavour – it should be nice and balanced.
4 Spoon the escabèche over the chicken and leave to infuse and cool to room temperature, between 30 minutes and an hour. Sprinkle the pine kernels and chopped parsley over the escabèche just before serving. Serve with lots of crusty bread to mop up the delicious juices or with the green rice salad, below.