Cajun-Spiced Spatchcock Chicken

DIFFICULTY
Average Average
COOK TIME
Under 1 hr. Under 1 hr.
SERVES
2-4 2-4
Cajun-Spiced Spatchcock Chicken
Main ingredients
  • Meat
Ingredients
Method

Ingredients

For the chicken:
  • 1 whole free-range chicken
  • 100g butter
  • 2 red onions, halved or quartered
  • 6-8 bulbs baby fennel
  • Micro herbs
Cajun spice mix:
  • 1 tbsp cayenne pepper
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • 2 tbsp smoked Spanish paprika
  • 1 tbsp dried oregano
  • 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp dried chilli1 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed
  • 1 tbsp cumin, crushed
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • Sea salt

  • Method

  • 1
    Preheat the oven to 200°C.
  • 2
    To prepare the spatchcock chicken, carefully cut out the backbone of a chicken with a good pair of kitchen scissors. Do this by placing the chicken breast side down with legs towards you. Cut through the rib bones on either side of the backbone (using the parson 's nose as a guide). Flip the chicken over onto the board, pull out either side to open it up and gently press down onto the breast bone and apply pressure to flatten it out completely to one level thickness. Alternatively, ask a local butcher to do this.
  • 3
    For the Cajun spice mix, toast all the spices, with the exception of the sugar, in a dry pan until fragrant. Grind together in a pestle and mortar to combine, along with the brown sugar. Add some vegetable oil to make a loose paste. Season with sea salt, rub into the spatchcock chicken and arrange in a Le Creuset 30cm Signature Buffet Casserole with the butter and red onions. Roast for 25 minutes without the lid, so the skin crisps up nicely. Baste every 10 minutes with the pan juices. Tuck the baby fennel under the chicken and roast for another 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.
  • 4
    Place the lid on the casserole for the last 10 minutes.
  • 5
    Cook's Note:
  • 6
    The "parson's nose" is the fleshy protuberance at the rear end of poultry.