This is such a great way to roast chicken on a week night. By starting it in a hot skillet you’re guaranteeing crispy golden skin and juicy chicken. You can prep it the night before if you remember!

The key to this recipe is basically turning the chicken into a flat disk, therefor allowing more of the skin to get in contact with the hot pan. It’s also important the skin is completely dry before it hits the pan. This means that the flavours you put on the chicken have to go on the under the skin, and on the underside of the chicken. I’ve included some tips below if you’re not familiar with butterflying a chicken or any of the other steps in the recipe.

How to Prep the Chicken: place the chicken on a board breast side down with the tail pointing towards you. Use kitchen shears to snip down one side of the backbone, and then the other. The backbone is now removed, keep this to make stock! Next, turn the chicken so it’s breast side up and use the heel of your hand to press down on the breast bone and flatten it, you should hear a crack. Snip the wing tips off (use these in stock too). Arrange the legs as per the photo below so you have a circle that will fit in your pan.

Separating the skin from the chicken as per the recipe apparently helps it get crispy, it also gives you a little pouch to put the herbs into. This means their flavour really gets into the chicken, which is what we want

Check it’s done: I usually pierce the thickest part of the thigh and then press it so that the juices run out. If there’s no blood, you’re good to go!

Ingredients

1 x free range chicken approx 1.6-1.8kg

2 tsp salt

2 Tbs thyme leaves

2 tsp lemon juice

1.5 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

Directions

Butterfly the chicken using the instructions above (this video might be handy). Remember to snip the wing tips off, like the back bone they can be used for stock.

Using your fingers make a gap between the skin and the meat, push in 1/2 the thyme leaves. Turn over and rub 1/2 the salt and the remaining thyme into the underside of the chicken. Sprinkle over the lemon juice and allow to marinate for at least an hour.

Turn the chicken over and pat the skin dry. Rub the remaining salt into the skin and then leave uncovered in the fridge for at least 1hr, you could leave it over night. This will help the skin crisp up.

Before cooking, bring the chicken up to room temp by removing from the fridge (20 mins – 1hour our if the fridge). While you’re doing this preheat the oven to 200 degrees C (+ 10 if not fan forced).

Place the large cast iron skillet on medium high heat. Add the oil and wait 30 seconds then add the chicken skin side down. Place a piece of baking paper on the chicken then another heavy based pan on top of it to weigh it down.

Cook for 8-12 minutes, or until the skin is just getting golden. Then, transfer to the hot oven, still skin side down, and cook for a further 5-10 minutes or until the skin is a deep golden colour. At this point turn the chicken carefully and cook skin side up for 15-20 minutes. If the skin isn’t crispy (it should be!) turn the heat up 10 degrees for the last 5 minutes. It should be cooking for a minimum of 30 minutes all up, use a meat thermometer or test a thigh (see above the recipe for tips) to check it’s done.

Allow to rest on a plate for 10 minutes before carving.

Serve with rice, smashed potatoes, greens, salad – as you please!

HH. x