Spatchcock Peri Peri Chicken (or Piri Piri)

PREP: Place the chicken on a clean surface and pat the chicken dry with paper towels, breast side down. Use sharpened kitchen shears, find the spine, and cut on both sides of the spine, making sure you don’t remove excess meat. Remove the spine and save it to make stock later! See pictures for details. Flip the bird over so it’s breast side up and use your palms to press down the breast bone with force so it cracks and the breast and legs lay flat on the surface. Season the chicken with 2 teaspoons of kosher salt. You can prepare the chicken immediately or refrigerate it, uncovered, for 4-12 hours. The long the chicken sits, the thinner the skin gets, ultimately resulting in a less flabby chicken later!

BLEND: Add 1½ teaspoons of kosher salt and all the ingredients (except the chicken) to a food processor and blend until a paste forms.

MARINATE: Wear gloves for this step as the peppers will burn your hands! Place the chicken breast side down in a large baking dish or sheat pan. Rub ½ the prepared sauce on the chicken. Flip the chicken over and pour the remaining marinade on the chicken breast. Slide your hands under the chicken skin and really get the marinade on the breasts any anywhere else that's accessible. Rub the skin-side with the marinade. Allow the chicken to hang out breast side up for at least 35-45 minutes at room temperature or cover and marinate the chicken in the fridge overnight. Make sure to remove the chicken from the fridge 45 minutes before roasting for a more even roast.

ROAST: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 425ºF. Roast the chicken for 40-45 minutes or until an instant read thermometer in the thickest part of the chicken reads 150ºF. At that point, move the chicken up to the top rack and turn on the broiler to give the chicken some color (about 1-2 minutes) check the chicken breast and make sure the temperature reads 155-157ºF at that point, remove the chicken from the oven, loosely tent it with foil, and allow it to rest for 10 minutes. Carryover cooking with raise the temperature to 165ºF.

OR GRILL IT: Preheat an outdoor grill for at least 15 minutes. You want the grill to have a 'hot' zone set to high and a ‘warm’ zone set to medium-low. Clean and oil the grates as needed. Place the chicken on the medium-low side, with the breast side up, and close the grill lid. Let the chicken cook for 15 minutes, then using grill tongs, rotate the chicken 90º and continue to let it cook again for 15 minutes. Check the internal temperature of the chicken, it should be 150ºF, if it’s not, continue cooking and rotating every 15 minutes until the temp reaches 150ºF. Then flip the chicken so it’s skin side down onto the hot part of the grill (place a heavy bottom skillet wrapped in foil to get a better sear not the skin if you want) and let it cook for 2-3 minutes before rotating the chicken to get grill lines. When the chicken reaches 160ºF or above, remove it to a plate, and allow the chicken to rest for 10 minutes before carving.

SERVE: Serve with potato wedges, charred corn, a rice pilaf, or a salad.