DESCRIPTION
How to make a spatchcock chicken meal with potatoes, asparagus, and lemon all on one pan. It looks delicious coming out of the oven and tastes even better.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- Olive oil
- 2 lemons, sliced 1/4-inch thick
- Salt
- Black pepper
- 4 lb. chicken
- 28 oz. small red potatoes (if any are larger than 1 and 1/2-inches, cut those ones in half)
- 1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
- 1 lb. asparagus, trimmed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Rub a large (18″x 13″) rimmed pan with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Add the lemon slices in a single non-overlapping layer. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon coarse black pepper.
- Take your chicken and flip it so that it’s breast-side-down. Locate the backbone. Using sharp kitchen shears, cut all along one side of the backbone (you’ll be going through some little ribs so press hard to cut). Then cut along the other side of the backbone, thus removing the backbone completely. Discard the backbone or save it for making stock.
- Open the chicken up so that it is one wide piece. Flip it breast-side-up. Push down on it all over with the palms of your hands to flatten it to a more even thickness.
- Transfer the chicken to the middle of the pan, lying it over some of the lemon slices. Sprinkle chicken lightly with salt and pepper.
- In a medium bowl toss together the potatoes with 2 teaspoons of olive oil, the thyme, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of coarse pepper. Scatter the potatoes on the pan around the chicken. Put the pan into the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, put the asparagus into the bowl that the potatoes were in. Add 1/2 teaspoon olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Once the chicken and potatoes have roasted for 30 remove the pan from the oven and tuck the asparagus in around the potatoes and chicken. You want everything to still be in a single layer over the lemon slices.
- Put the pan back into the oven until an instant read thermometer placed into the middle of a breast and into the middle of a thigh reads 165°F, 20-30 minutes more.
- Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.