How to spatchcock a chicken

I've always been a bit scared of spatchcocking, there's something rather violent about the way the word sounds. It makes me think of kneecapping, or knuckledusting. This Saturday though, I steeled my nerves and set about my chicken with new abandon. And I was relieved to find it wasn't even that difficult.

To spatchcock, if you're not familiar with the term, is to remove the backbone of the chicken and to flatten it out. It makes cooking much quicker - the bird that I used cooked in 50 minutes rather than an hour and 20 - and it makes the chicken much easier to handle if you're cooking it on the BBQ.

All you need is a chicken and a pair of kitchen scissors.

1. Put the chicken onto a board breast side down, with the head end towards you.



2. Find the backbone and cut alongside it all the way to the end. You will crunch through the ribs as you do this, but an ordinary pair of kitchen scissors should do the job.



3. Do the same on the other side of the backbone, so the whole backbone is removed. You can keep this and use it for making stock.



4. Turn the chicken over, open it up and press down on it to flatten it out. The idea is that the chicken is a fairly uniform thickeness all over.

Your chicken is now well and truly spatchcocked. I stuffed some ricotta, lemon zest and chives under the skin, drizzled with olive oil and cooked it in the oven for 50 minutes until the juices ran clear. Delicious!

Let them eat Chicken (and mango, and cauliflower)

Kate Coldrick over at A Merrier World is running a blogging event to publicise the very worthy cause of chicken welfare, so I thought I must join in. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Chicken Out campaign really hit home to me, and I now always buy free range chicken. It really does pay off in terms of taste and texture, so the foodie in me is satisfied too.

I used free range chicken breasts from Tesco. They were lovely big, plump breasts (ooh-er!) and stayed tender and moist after cooking too.

Thai Green Chicken & Mango Curry with Spiced Cauliflower (serves 2)

Thai Chicken

2 free range chicken breast, cut into chunks
1 ripe mango, diced
1 tin coconut milk
1 onion
1 large garlic clove
1 green chilli
2 tbsps green Thai curry paste (I use Thai Taste, and freeze the rest in an ice cube tray)
Fish sauce
2 kaffir lime leaves
Vegetable oil


Spiced cauliflower

1/2 a head of cauliflower, cut into florets
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp chilli flakes
Olive oil
1 knob butter

Preheat the oven to 180c (fan assisted)

1. Whizz the onion, garlic and green chilli to a paste in the food processor.
2. Heat the vegetable oil and soften the onion, garlic and chilli in the pan with the curry paste.
3. Add the chicken pieces and brown all over.
4. Meanwhile, blanch or steam the cauliflower for a few minutes (I steamed mine in a microwave steamer).
5. Mix the cauliflower spices and chilli with a good pinch of salt.
6. Toss the cauliflower with the knob of butter and splash of olive oil, then with the spices.
7. Pop the cauliflower into the oven in a baking dish for 15 minutes .
8. Add the mango pieces to the browned chicken mixture.
9. Add the coconut milk to the chicken and mango mixture. Add the lime leaves and a splash of fish sauce. Simmer for 15 mins
10. Enjoy! Serve the curry with steamed jasmine rice if you like...