Serious Eats: Recipes
Dinner Tonight: Chicken Catanzaro Style
I'm always on the lookout for recipes which use up, rather economically, a whole chicken. It's cheaper than buying cuts separately, plus, the rest of the carcass goes into the freezer for stock. Roast chicken is an obvious choice to prepare a whole chicken. But as I learned when making "brick" chicken, if you're willing to do a little butchering and remove the backbone (also known as spatchcocking), you can cook the chicken faster and more reliably.
This fantastic recipe from Lidia Bastianich which I saw on her PBS show Lidia's Italy takes advantage of this technique, while also stuffing the chicken with a mouthwatering mixture of breadcrumbs, parsley, anchovies, capers, lemon zest, nutmeg, and cinnamon. It's a bit of work to get it prepared, but definitely worth it: cooked covered over the course of 40 minutes or so (it's a cross between saute and braise), the chicken releases its juices into the skillet to make a marvelous sauce, while staying incredibly juicy.
