This is such a great way of cooking chicken, particularly in the summer months when you can BBQ it (or at least finish it off on a BBQ for extra flavour!)
I tend to ask my butcher to butterfly the chicken for me, as frankly I know it'll get done properly that way. Of course, there are plenty of youtube videos on how to butterfly/spatchcock a chicken if you want to have a bash yourself.
Ingredients
- 1 free range chicken
- 4-5 large cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled & crushed
- 3 tbsp natural yoghurt
- 4-5 tsp za'atar (or any other spice blend of your choosing!)
- pinch sea salt
- 1 lime, quartered
- fresh coriander
Method
- Mix together the yoghurt, ginger and garlic and rub all over the chicken. Leave to marinade in a large bowl, covered, in the fridge for 3-4 hours, or overnight is even better!
- Pre-heat your oven to 200c (if BBQing, see below!)
- When you are ready to prepare your chicken for cooking, rub the spice mix into the chicken making sure it gets into all the nooks and crannies and season with sea salt.
- Place the chicken in a roasting tray in the oven and cook for 35-40 mins. If cooking on a BBQ, put the chicken skin-side down on the grill, pop a lid on it and cook for approx 30-40 mins.
- Remove from the oven and either finish off under the grill for 10 minutes (skin side up) or on a BBQ (skin side down) to get the nice charred skin.
- Check it is cooked and let it rest for 10 minutes
- Squeeze over a little lime juice, sprinkle with freshly chopped coriander and serve.
