Easy peasy one-pot chicken
A whole spatchcock chicken with Mediterranean-style vegetables, this is a healthy and hearty all-in-one dish made in a casserole or deep saucepan. Removing the backbone of the chicken makes it a spatchcock and it is easier to arrange in the pot and to carve or joint.
Double up for eight people, if you wish, and arrange two chickens in a large roasting tin, covered in foil.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced
- 1 red pepper, deseeded and diced
- 3 large garlic cloves, crushed
- 100ml/3Âœfl oz white wine
- 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 2 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 small whole chicken (about 1.25kg/2lb 12oz)
- 1 lemon, thinly sliced into rounds
- 5 bay leaves
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tbsp runny honey
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
Heat the oil in a deep lidded casserole or large, lidded, ovenproof frying pan over a high heat. Add the onion, fennel and pepper and fry for about 3â4 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds. Pour in the wine and boil to reduce the liquid by half.
Stir in the chopped tomatoes, sun-dried tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce, and season with salt and black pepper.
Meanwhile, put the chicken upside down on a board. Remove the backbone by cutting either side of the bone with scissors. Turn over and press down on the breastbone to flatten the bird; it is now a spatchcock chicken. Arrange the lemon slices and bay leaves over the chicken.
Put the chicken, breast-side up, on top of the vegetables in the casserole or frying pan. Season with salt and pepper and bring up to the boil. Cover with a lid and transfer to the oven for about 35 minutes.
Remove the lid and sprinkle the paprika over the chicken and drizzle with the honey. Return to the oven, uncovered, for about 30 minutes to brown and ïŹnish cooking. The chicken is cooked through when no trace of pink remains and the juices run clear.
To serve, spoon the vegetables on to a hot platter and joint or carve the chicken before arranging the chicken on top of the vegetables.
Recipe Tips
Prepare the vegetables ahead of time. Bring the veg back to the boil before adding the chicken and cooking in the oven.
Not suitable for freezing.
