Bridgton Farmers’ Market recipe Spatchcocked & Roasted

By Nancy Tripp Bridgton Farmers’ Market

One of my favorite, and easiest meals to prepare through the fall and winter seasons is a roasted chicken. This provides us with a delicious meal of crispy, juicy chicken and leftovers for the coming days. Several years ago, I discovered the technique of spatchcocking a bird (works on turkeys also). By cutting the backbone out of the bird, you allow the body to lay flat in your roasting pan and create a piece of meat that will cook much more uniformly and more quickly. No more dry breast meat while waiting for the legs and thighs to come to temp. It also allows all the surfaces of the bird to brown up and crisp evenly to a beautiful golden brown. I have also found that if I spatchcock the bird a few hours before I plan to roast it and set it in the refrigerator for 2 to 4 hours uncovered, the skin will crisp even better.

We were talking about recipes at the market on “The Bitter Cold Saturday” and Michelle from Padruig Designs told me she spatchcocked chicken last week and had used Wicked Good Cupboards “The Flavah Basic Rub” on her chicken. It was a total rave. So very good!

We have several of our vendors at the Bridgton Winter Farmers’ Market offering whole farm raised chickens for sale, Wicked Good Cupboard providing entertainment, and a selection of rubs and sauces to enhance your meals. You will also find the onions, carrots and potatoes at our market for this recipe. Why don’t you come and see what we have to offer?

Spatchcocked Chicken

1 - 4 to 5-pound chicken

1 or 2 onions

3 or 4 celery stalks

3 or 4 carrots (or as many as you might like for your dinner) sliced into thick sticks

Potatoes — optional. I cut them into pieces if it is a medium or large potato

Salt and pepper

Thyme — fresh or dry

Olive oil

To spatchcock the chicken: Turn the bird breast side down on a cutting board. With a sturdy pair of kitchen shears or a sharp knife cut out the back bone by cutting along the edge of the backbone and separating the ribs and skin. This is pretty easy on a store-bought bird and a bit more difficult with our healthy, farm-raised birds that have much stronger bones. Turn the bird over and lean on the breastbone to crack the wishbone and allow the bird to spread and lie flat on the cutting board.

A few hours ahead of time: I set the spatchcock chicken in a pan and place it uncovered in the fridge for at least 2 hours (or overnight). This allows the skin to dry out and creates a crispier skin. Before roasting,