This looks great, tastes amazing, and only requires minimal time in the kitchen. The fact it's spatchcocked mean it cooks more evenly than a normal roast chicken, and and in around 2/3 the time.
To keep things super simple, I usually just serve it with bread.
Full recipe below video
Serves 3-5 depending on the size of chicken.
1 chicken (ideally allowed to come up to room temperature before cooking)
small handful of capers
1 lemon, zest and juice
small bunch of parsley, roughly chopped
300g baby spinach, washed
olive oil
salt
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- To spatchcock the chicken, hold it upright on your chopping board, with the breasts facing away from you, and the wings at the bottom. Using a sharp knife of kitchen shears, cut down either side of the backbone and discard.
- Now lay the chicken flat, breast side up, and push down firmly, you should hear a slight cracking sound. This will ensure it lies flat as it cooks.
- Transfer to an oven tray, pour over a little olive oil and season well with salt.
- Roast at 220c for approximately 40 minutes. Check it's cooked through by pushing a temperature probe into the thickest part of the thigh: it should read 72c. (temperature probes are cheap and easy to find online - I can't recommend them highly enough).
- Allow the chicken to rest in the roasting tray for 10 minutes while you prepare the other ingredients and cook the spinach.
- Transfer the chicken and the cooked spinach to a warm serving dish. Put the roasting tray with all of the chicken juices over a low heat (you can pour off some of the fat if you prefer - I don't!).
- Add the lemon juice, zest, capers and parsley. Stir for a few seconds until the juices are just sizzling and simmering. (Note - making this gravy should take literally a minute - it's fresh and zesty and doesn't benefit from being boiled)
- Pour the gravy all over the chicken and serve with bread, potatoes, rice - whatever suits.