Ingredients
- 1 chicken, about 4 pounds, spatchcocked and ideally dry brined (see above video)
- salt
- your favorite spice blend (skip the salt if your blend already has it)
- 1 large shallot, sliced or minced
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 2 oranges, peel and pith removed, cut into sections or rounds (see this video)
- 1/4 cup chicken broth, wine, or water
Instructions
- Position an oven rack in the bottom third of your oven, with plenty of room above it. Heat your oven to 425ºF and place a large cast iron skillet in the oven to heat up with it. Find something heavy you can use to weigh down the chicken – a dutch oven is good, or another cast iron pan. Or an actual brick wrapped in foil.
- Take the chicken out of the fridge and coat the skin side with olive oil. Let it hang out at room temperature while your oven heats up. (if you didn’t dry brine your chicken, just season it now)
- When the oven comes up to temp, carefully remove the skillet from the oven and place on the stove. Transfer the chicken to the skillet, skin side down, and cover just the chicken (not the entire skillet) with a double later of aluminum foil.
- Place your weight on top and put it all in the oven. Cook for 20 minutes, and then remove. You might want to remove the weight first so it’s not so heavy.
- Remove and discard the aluminum foil and then remove the weight. Flip the chicken so it’s skin side up and return to the oven. Cook for another 10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through to a temp of 160 in the thigh. Transfer to a cutting board to rest.
- Place the skillet the chicken was in over a medium-high heat. Add the shallots and garlic and a pinch of salt. Cook for a few minutes until they’re browned and softened and smell great. Stir in the rosemary sprigs and oranges with their juice. Cook for about a minute, just until the oranges start to fall apart. Add the chicken broth and bring to a simmer.
- Cut up the chicken and serve over the sauce.
Keywords: brick chicken, roast chicken