Written By Francisco De Negri
This beautiful, whole chicken is seasoned overnight in a yogurt and buttermilk marinade, with anchovies and chopped dill.
The acids in the marinade penetrate the chicken and make the meat impossibly tender. The sugars in the yogurt make for the most beautiful brown and caramelized skin.
Despite it taking overnight to marinade, the actual cooking and prepping time is minimal, so if you know you have friends coming over the next day (Or even two!) You can simply let the chicken rest in the Yogurt mixture inside the fridge and then pop in the oven 4 hours before sitting down to eat.
If you can’t find buttermilk (I’m looking at you, Latino friends), you can use whole milk and add four tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.
The juices that the bird releases in the oven are the base for making the gravy, which get’s complimented with the juice of half an orange, for acidity and chile flake for spice.
ingredients:
For the marinade:
1 whole chicken
2 cups full fat greek yogurt
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup chopped dill leafs and stems
1 tin of Anchovies (40g).
See AlsoA better Chicken Piccata4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp Kosher salt
1 red onion (quartered)
Freshly cracked black pepper
For the serving:
1 orange (Cut in half)
1 cup of dill stems
1 tbsp corn starch
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Pinch of chile flake
Kosher salt to taste
2 tbsp (approx) extra virgin olive oil
1 handful of parsley sprigs
instructions:
In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, buttermilk, salt and dill.
Finely chop your anchovies and smash with the backside of your knife so they they’re mashed together. Add to the marinade and mix well.
With your knife give peel your garlic cloves and crush with your knife so they’re insides are exposed. Add to the marinade.
Season with salt and pepper until it’s intensely flavoured.
Place your chicken into the bowl and with your hands massage the outside and inside, making sure everything is well coated.
Leave breast side down, cover with a lid or with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 8 to 48 hours.
When ready to eat, preheat your oven to 375F.
Coat the bottom of a cast iron pan with olive oil and place your onion quarters, distributed. On top of them, place the chicken breast side up. (For a more even cooking let your chicken come up to room temperature. About 20 minutes will do the trick).
Stuff the chicken with one half of an orange (you can quarter it, if it’s easier to fit) and more dill stems, you’ll use the leafs later to serve. Reserve the other half of the orange for the gravy.
Dress the pan with with Parsley sprigs around the chicken. Give everything a good drizzle of olive oil, season again with salt an pepper and place in the oven.
After 30 minutes turn the pan 180 degrees, to ensure even cooking.
Between the 60 and 90 minute mark, pull out the pan out of the oven and take the temperature of the most inner part of the breast. You’ll want to aim for a 165F temperature. You don’t want the chicken to get any hotter than that as you’ll risk it drying out.
When ready, let rest for 30 minutes minimum. You do not want to cut into the chicken while it’s hot. As the chicken rests and it’s temperature comes down, the juices inside redistribute and the flavours intensify.
While your chicken rests, keep all the drippings that gathered in the bottom of the pan, and to that, add the strained juice from your remaining orange half, your cornstarch and mix well over medium fire on the stove top. Wait until everything comes to a boil and the liquid will begin to thicken into a gravy.
Add your worcestershire sauce and chile flake and keep warm on very low heat. (Taste the sauce and see if if needs more worcestershire. This will depend on the acidity and sweetness of your orange. Adjust as necessary so your gravy feels balanced).
When ready, carve the chicken, separating the legs, the thighs and the two breasts.
Serve The chicken pieces, interspersed with the onion quarters, dress with your remaining dill leafs and spoon over your gravy evenly on the chicken.
Finish sprinkling some flakey salt, another crack of pepper and if you’d like, the juice of half a lemon.
Francisco De Negri
