Chicken Under a Brick Recipe

Ganny is smitten with Mark Bittnam's blog at the New York Times. Evidently he's retiring the blog and has posted his 25 favorite recipes. So we're planning to cook all of them (at least the ones that sound interesting). Last night was Chicken Under a Brick. It turns out the chicken was under two bricks as well as a cast iron skillet, but who's counting.

She had already prepped and marinated the chicken earlier in the day and there was very little for the prep cook to do. So I drank beer and watched. I'm practicing for when we're married. By the time we sat to eat I had moved on to gin & tonic (see picture) and Ganny decided to finish off the Root : 1 Sauvignon Blanc from the night before. Thankfully that's gone now.

The chicken was juicy and wonderful with a nice crisp skin.


CHICKEN UNDER A BRICK

Time: 45 minutes, plus optional marinating time

1 whole 3- to 4-pound chicken, trimmed of excess fat, rinsed, dried and split, backbone removed
1 tablespoon fresh minced rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon peeled and coarsely chopped garlic
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, optional
1 lemon, cut into quarters.

1. Place the chicken on a cutting board, skin side down, and using your hands, press down hard to make it as flat as possible. Mix together the rosemary leaves, salt, pepper, garlic and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, and rub this all over the chicken. Tuck some of the mixture under the skin as well. If time permits, cover and marinate in the refrigerator for up to a day (even 20 minutes of marinating boosts the flavor).

2. When you are ready to cook, preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Preheat an ovenproof 12-inch skillet (preferably nonstick) over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes. Press rosemary sprigs, if using, into the skin side of the chicken. Put remaining olive oil in the pan and wait about 30 seconds for it to heat up.

3. Place the chicken in the skillet, skin side down, along with any remaining pieces of rosemary and garlic; weight it with another skillet or with one or two bricks or rocks, wrapped in aluminum foil. The idea is to flatten the chicken by applying weight evenly over its surface.

4. Cook over medium-high to high heat for 5 minutes, then transfer to the oven. Roast for 15 minutes more. Remove from the oven and remove the weights; turn the chicken over (it will now be skin side up) and roast 10 minutes more, or until done (large chickens may take an additional 5 minutes or so). Serve hot or at room temperature, with lemon wedges.

Yield: 4 servings.

Recipe source : New York Times

And the dogs gave rave reviews to their bowls of dry kibble.