Roasted Whole Spatchcock Chicken

1. Preparation:

• Preheat your oven to 335 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Spatchcock the chicken by removing the backbone and flattening it. This ensures even cooking and a crispy skin.

2. Seasoning the Chicken:

• Rub the chicken with olive oil on both sides.
• Season very liberally with salt and pepper.
• Apply your favourite seasoning. Chef Boreland loves using a smoky paprika-based steak spice.

3. Preparing the Base:

• Coarsely slice the onion and crush the garlic.
• Place the onion and garlic in a pan and sweat them to soften (sweating means cooking them gently to release their flavours).

4. Deglazing and Adding Stock:

• Optionally, add white wine to the pan to deglaze it. If you've never added wine to a hot pan before, turn off the heat first to avoid a flame.
• Reduce the wine until it looks syrupy.
• Add chicken stock to the pan, enough to cover the base but not submerge the chicken.

5. Roasting the Chicken:

• Place the seasoned chicken on top of the onion and garlic mixture in the pan.
• Transfer the pan to the preheated oven.
• Roast the chicken for one hour.

6. Finishing Touches:

• After roasting, remove the pan from the oven.
• Strain the jus (drippings) from the pan and let it sit for 10 minutes to reduce.

7. Serving:

• Ensure your knives and cutting boards are clean and sterilized to avoid cross-contamination.
• Cut the spatchcocked chicken into halves and serve with the retained skin and jus.