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Grilled Spatchcocked Chicken with Green Sauce (Pollo alla Brace con Salsa Verde)

by Dino Joannides from Semplice

This versatile Italian grilled spatchcocked chicken recipe can be cooked on the barbecue, under a grill or in a griddle pan. A great alternative to roast chicken, it allows you to cook a whole chicken in half the time.

From the book

Dino Joannides

Introduction

Grilled chicken is a staple in many Italian homes and restaurants. It is not only a nice alternative to roast chicken but allows you to cook a whole chicken in half the time.

Typically, I dress the chicken with salsa verde or Salsa Salmorigano, which I use for most grilled meats and fish. I like to keep salsa verde ingredients to a minimum, and use only fresh flat leaf parsley. However, the ingredients used in this sauce vary all over Italy. The only consistent characteristic is that it is green. In Sicily and Calabria I have had versions with a touch of chilli, but you may also come across eggs, mustard and myriad green herbs and leaves in the mix. On one memorable occasion I even had a version that contained brains. Prepared Leopoldo Bolomini, an Italian chef who worked in the Ritz hotel in London, his version, he told me, was very typical in the borderlands between Lombardy and Piedmont.

The key to a successful sauce is to use a sharp knife rather than a food processor. A mezzaluna is the perfect implement.

 

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Ingredients

1 medium-large spatchcocked chicken
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp Trapani sea salt
For the salsa verde:
1 large bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley, ideally grown outdoors in a hot country; it should be full flavoured with fairly large leaves
4 Nola or Cetara anchovy fillets
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp capers
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
freshly ground black pepper
150 ml extra virgin olive oil

Method

How to spatchcock a chicken:

To spatchcock a chicken, place it on a board breast­ side down, with the legs towards you. Using poultry shears or a strong pair of scissors, cut right along the backbone and through the ribs on either side of the parson’s nose. Lift out the backbone, open out the chicken and tum it over. Now press down with the heel of your hand so that the meat is all one thickness. Insert two skewers diagonally through the breast and thigh meat to secure the legs and keep the bird flat.

Method:

Coat the chicken with  the  olive oil, sprinkle with  the sea salt,  then allow it to rest  for 30 minutes.

The meat can be cooked on a barbecue, under a grill or in a griddle pan, so preheat as necessary. Cook the chicken, skin-side down first, for 15-20 minutes, depending on the  size of the bird, then repeat on the other side. When it is ready, you  should be able  to easily pull it apart with your hands into 4-6 pieces.

While the chicken is cooking, make  the salsa verde. Cut off and discard three-quarters of the  parsley stalks. Place the remaining parsley on a wooden board and chop it using a mezzaluna. The texture (rough or fine) is up to you, depending how you like your salsa verde. I opt for a rough chop if it’s going to accompany roast or grilled chicken or fish, but I prefer an almost paste-like version for serving with  bollito misto.

Add the anchovy fillets, garlic and salt to the  parsley and continue chopping until they are  combined.

For  a loose, rough-textured salsa,  put  the chopped ingredients into a large bowl,  add  some pepper and pour in the  oil slowly whilst stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. The finished salsa should look like very wet chopped parsley with specks  of anchovy and garlic still being visible.

For  a paste-like consistency, put the parsley mixture into a marble mortar, add  the chopped capers and vinegar, and pound together, using a light circular movement of the  pestle against the sides. When the parsley drips bright green liquid, add  the  pepper and a thin layer  of olive  oil,  and mix very lightly. Keep drizzling in the oil and pounding until you  have used all the oil and achieved a paste-like consistency.

Both versions are  best  prepared just  before you  plan to eat.  I do not recommend keeping it in the fridge. Instead, make  as much as you  need and eat  it all.

Place the chicken pieces in a serving dish and dress it with  the salsa.

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