Spatch-cock /spaCH,kak/: to split open to prepare for grilling
It’s been a year. A full twelve months since we were given the “stay at home” order. Stop what you’re doing. Wash your hands. Don’t touch your face. Don’t go outside. Don’t talk with anyone you don’t already live with. Wipe down your groceries (remember that one?) and most of all, DON’T HOARD TOILET PAPER!!!!
We thought it would be over in weeks.
We were wrong.
Two months later we were all experts in ZOOM meetings and trying to remember what day it was. When we ventured outside our home base we carried a mask, stood in lines just to be allowed into a place of business, elbow bumped instead of shaking hands, and searched…for toilet paper.
We were spatchcocked.
Splayed open and slapped down on top of red hot coals, we struggled to stay positive. Isolation, depression, financial hardship, dreams ending, marriages ending….hope ending. Frustration, tempers flaring…violence, destruction, angry and horrible words thrown like paper airplanes in all directions.
And in the midst of all this frustration and angst, neighbors re-discovered visits over the back fence, distanced gatherings in a cul de sac, and sharing vital supplies—like toilet paper.
Kids, tired of spending all day staring at a screen trying to learn from a distance, poured out of the house at the opportunity to swing, jump on a trampoline or play basketball in the street.
Spring has arrived again and with it the fresh breath of change, and three different vaccines. A change TO normalcy: dinners INSIDE a restaurant, movies in a theater, and learning inside a classroom.
I reject the “new normal”. I want the old normal. Hugs, handshakes and dinners around my table. During this year, thanks to virtual meetings, I’ve met some clients “face to face” for the first time, managed to stay productive while walking my clients through some terrifying times, and attended a formal gala wearing drop earrings and my fuzzy slippers. And I can’t wait for it all to end.
We’ve been opened up and our guts exposed. Some scars will stick around for the long haul, but I’m still betting that rather than a permanent divider, the stories we tell about how we survived 2020 will bond us together, rather than tear us further apart.
I have hope for us.
For the chicken….not so much.
Keep calm, and eat on.
Chicken Under a Skillet with Lemon Pan Sauce
Equipment
- Oven safe skillet large enough for splayed chicken
- Cast Iron skillet smaller than the one holding the chicken
Ingredients
- 1 4 lb Whole chicken, patted dry
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium shallot, finely chopped
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces Honestly, I don't think unsalted is really necessary, but if it matters to you….knock yourself out.
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
Instructions
Spatchcocking the bird
- Place chicken on a work surface and use kitchen shears to snip off wing tips (they get in the way of the breasts during cooking: save them for stock).
- Turn chicken breast side down and use shears to cut along both sides of the backbone to remove it (save for stock along with those wing tips).
- Open up chicken and use the tip of a knife to cut a shallow line along either side of the rectangular bone and strip of cartilage in the middle of breast.
- Turn chicken skin side up and press down on center of breast to flatten chicken–you should hear the breastbone crack. ( I know…the "ew" factor, but just do it.)
- Season generously on both sides with salt and pepper and let sit at room temperature at least 20 minutes and up to 1 hour.
Cooking the chicken
- Preheat oven to 350°. Heat a dry large cast-iron skillet over medium. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season all over again with a light sprinkling of salt. Add oil to skillet, then chicken, arranging skin side down. Cover the bottom of another smaller cast-iron skillet with foil.
- Place the smaller foil bottomed skillet over the chicken to weigh it down. Cook, peeking under foil and lifting chicken a bit to check, until skin is deep golden brown and crisp all over, 15 – 18 minutes.
- Remove top skillet and turn chicken skin side up. Transfer skillet to oven and roast chicken just until cooked through (an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of breast should register 160°F), 15 – 20 minutes.
- Carefully remove skillet from oven and place chicken skin side up (to preserve that crispness) on a plate to rest.
The Lemon Pan Sauce
- Set skillet over medium-low heat and add shallot and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring often, until shallot is softened and golden, about 3 minutes.
- Add wine and lemon juice and swirl skillet to emulsify. Reduce heat to low and add butter; cook, swirling to combine, until melted. Pour in juices that have pooled under chicken on plate; mix in parsley.
- Return chicken to skillet to serve. (Note: with all due respect to the orignator of this recipe, really? How do you disassemble a flat chicken inside of a skillet without completely trashing your skillet?!? I recommend cutting apart your chicken, and THEN returning it to the pan with the sauce to serve.)
I definitely feel spatchcocked from this last year! Ha ha. Great post. Sounds very yummy.
Thank you! It feels good to be back. Enjoy the chicken! The pan sauce really enhances it and is great to drizzle over broccoli too.
Written so well!!! That looks so good!
Thank you! And thank you for reading!