Spatchcock Mexican chicken with nectarine salsa

Bibby's Kitchen
6 servings Prep: 10 mins, Cooking: 1 hr
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Homely roast chicken with a little heat and a cooling salsa.

By Food24 November 19 2019
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Ingredients (27)

for the spice rub
20 ml cumin — seeds
15 ml coriander — seeds
15 ml paprika — smoked
5 ml dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic — powder
1 1/2 tsp sea salt — flakes
5 ml freshly ground black pepper — crushed
1/2 tsp dried red chilli flakes — red
10 ml brown sugar
1 cloves — ground
for the chicken
1 free-range chicken — spatchcocked
olive oil — for roasting
salt — to taste
1 lemon — halved
for the salsa
2 nectarines — cut into small dice
250 g cherry tomatoes — diced
1 red pepper — deseeded and finely diced
2 scallions — thinly sliced
1 red onion — finely diced
3 mint leaves — roughly chopped
fresh coriander or flat-leaf parsley - roughly chopped
30 ml olive oil — extra virgin
13 ml lemon juice
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper — to taste
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Method:

For the spice rub:

Toast the cumin and coriander in a dry pan for several minutes until fragrant. Cool, then transfer to a spice grinder and whizz to a powder. Combine the cumin with the remaining ingredients and store in a lidded glass jar. Keeps well for up to a month.

For the chicken:

Pat the chicken dry with paper towel. Drizzle with a little olive oil and scatter over 1/3 of the spice mix. Rub it over the skin and on the underside. Cover with cling film and marinate for several hours or overnight in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 200 °C.

Heat 30 ml olive oil in a heavy-based frying pan.  A cast-iron pan is ideal. Season the chicken lightly with salt and place skin side down in the hot oil. Cook until the skin is crisp and brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer to the oven, still with the skin side down, and roast for 30 minutes.

Turn the chicken over, add the lemon halves and roast for a further 25 minutes, or until the juices run clear.

For the salsa:

Combine the nectarines, tomatoes, pepper, scallions, onion and herbs. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Season lightly with salt and pepper and toss together.

To serve, squeeze the juice from the roast lemons over the chicken. Offer with warm tortillas or roast potato wedges, salsa and maybe some chunky guacamole.

Side note: Use the spice rub for pan-fried chicken, roast potatoes and grilled prawns.

Reprinted with permission of Diane Bibby from her new cookbook: Bibby’s Kitchen – The essence of good food, published by Penguin Random House Publishers.

 

spatchcock Mexican chicken with nectarine salsa

 

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