When I was first learning to cook for myself, I made a lot of chicken. I was still under the impression that a proper meal consisted of meat, a starch, and a vegetable. Chicken seemed like the most approachable meat at the store, since it’s practically the only kind my mother cooked while growing up, besides ground taco meat. But after a year of rubbery, overcooked chicken breasts with little to no flavor, I was decidedly anti-chicken. The following year, my kitchen became basically vegetarian and my diet little more than black beans, sweet potatoes, kale, and chips & salsa. Since the backlash year, I’ve dabbled now and then in chicken thighs and breaded chicken, but I never craved chicken, and never did I choose to cook it unless asked.
Until now.
I’m not using hyperbole when I say that Alison Roman has single-handedly made me into a chicken lover. This paprika-rubbed chicken is the third chicken recipe of hers that I’ve made in a month. “Don’t stop me now, ‘cause I’m having a good time…”
Just like the cover recipe of nothing fancy [see my post about Slow-Roasted Oregano Chicken], this darling of Dining In requires few ingredients, little skill, and almost no active time, and yet it yields the most juicy, flavorful, I-might-eat-the-whole-bird-in-one-sitting chicken. The chicken spends 2-3 hours (depending on the bird’s weight) in the oven at a low temp while the meat soaks in the oil and spices and the skin gets browned and crisp. Only some quartered lemons accompany the chicken on the rimmed sheet pan.
The first step is to spatchcock the bird, which is to cut out the backbone of the chicken, allowing it to lay flatter and roast quicker. Spatchcoking is the only true skill you need to make this recipe. I first learned to spatchcock when we lived in Houston and my pal Margaret (I’ll mention her a lot in this project, it’s inevitable) encouraged me to make a buttermilk-brined chicken by Samin Nosrat. I watched this tutorial and got it right on the first try. Not because I’m super cool, but because it’s easy to do. You just need some sharp kitchen shears and a have-no-fear attitude when you hear those backbones cracking. Also, once you know how to spatchcock, you can start telling your friends that you know how to spatchcock and it will sound mysterious and sort of intimidating, and you will seem fearless and strong* (because you are).
Smoked paprika AND hot paprika are used here, along with fennel seeds and chile flakes. Alison loves her fennel seeds, my goodness. I had a bottle of them sitting on my shelf the last few years, and within just 4 weeks of this project, I drained it. These four spices diffuse into the olive oil as the chicken roasts, and the leftover oil (post roasting) can be used to toss with veggies or as a bread dip.
She tells you to roast everything on a baking sheet (see recipe title), but doesn’t say anything about foil or parchment, which is my usual M.O. Here I chose to trust Alison, and put the bird on a bare baking sheet. There were no issues, and it cleaned easily.
Of the three whole roast chickens I’ve made so far for this project, this one was J’s favorite. I served it with a simple kale salad and Alison’s Spicy Garlicky White Beans (post forthcoming). The leftover meat made a phenomenal chicken sandwich (I <3 sandwiches).
*I don’t know this from experience -- I haven’t actually tried to announce this at a party -- but I bet I’m right.
7 recipes cooked, 218 recipes to go.
