Roast a chicken and you know you have a comfortable
meal. Alter that a little by butterflying the chicken, a surprisingly
simple task that can be carried out with a pair of kitchen scissors, and
you have a quick dinner that carries with it the casual air of
barbecue, without the bother. Here, buttermilk, which is usually
associated with fried chicken, helps to tenderize the chicken and
conveys the aromatics: you really get the full value of the rosemary,
pepper and garlic. If you want to substitute maple syrup for the honey,
you can. Best of all, you can leave the marinating bird in the fridge
for up to two days; thus, it gets more tender and you know you have a
dinner that needs no more than to be popped into the oven.
Butterfly chicken by placing breast side down and
using heavy-duty kitchen shears to cut along both sides of backbone.
Discard backbone, turn chicken over and open it like a book. Press
gently to flatten it.
Place chicken in a large freezer bag. Add
buttermilk, 1/4 cup oil, garlic, peppercorns, salt, rosemary and honey.
Seal bag securely and refrigerate overnight or up to two days.
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Remove chicken from
marinade and place on a rack so excess can drip off. Line a roasting pan
with foil and place chicken in pan. Drizzle with remaining 2
tablespoons oil. Roast for 45 minutes, then reduce heat to 325 degrees.
Continue roasting until well browned and until juices run clear when
chicken is pierced where leg joins thigh, about another 20 minutes.
Place chicken on a carving board and allow to rest
for 10 minutes before cutting into serving pieces. Place a portion on
each of four plates, and drizzle each serving with pan juices.
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