Sunday, the day of rest. Well that's what I was taught at school
(and in church) when I was a kid. Whilst it's important to a lot of us,
it's not the day of rest in all religions so let's not dwell on this
point other than to say that it is a special day.
We all work long and hard during the week and it's the weekend when most of us are lucky enough to take a break, spend time with the family and indulge in our passions and interests. For me, one of those passions is cooking and even though I do write recipes as part of my day job, cooking is still an important part of our weekend family ritual. There's nothing better than everyone sitting down to a meal together, we can discuss the weeks event's, what's coming up next week and most importantly, enjoy being there in the present with each others company.
Trying to do something special and different all the time can become a strain so sometimes simple is best. Think about the secret of good Italian food; fresh basic ingredients, full of flavor and simply cooked. So why shouldn't we do the same?
I love chicken on a Sunday, and when the family is around the table, it's got to be a whole chicken carved right there. For some reason, chicken pieces just don't have that same effect do they? So how do you barbecue a whole chicken simply?
I have three steps for a simple barbecue chicken recipe for a Sunday night cookout. The first thing is to let the chicken do the talking, get one that's got some texture and flavor. Free range, corn-fed and organic if you can stretch to it. A free range chicken has so much more flavor and texture because while alive it's had the opportunity to move around and exercise its muscles and this really does make for a different meat.
Secondly, spatchcock it. This just means cutting down the backbone and opening the chicken out so that it is flat. Technically you should remove the keel bone ( commonly and mistakenly referred to as the breast bone) but it's not essential. Barbecue grilling your chicken flat like this means that it cooks in a shorter period of time (usually about 50 minutes) and it's an easy grill, just turn over at the halfway stage - now what could be more simple than that? In addition when you spatchcock the chicken the backbone is cut out, this is where the any bugs from the intestinal tract might still linger so preparing your chicken in this manner reduces the health risks too.
All you need to do to spatchcock your chicken is to sit it on a board on its neck and cut down either side of the backbone with a sharp knife. Flatten it and if you want to cut either side of the keel bone and "pop" it out.
The final thing for a simple grilled barbecue chicken recipe is the seasoning. Rub on a little olive oil and then season on both sides with salt and pepper. Not only is the most simple seasoning sometimes the best, the salt will draw the moisture out of the fat and give you that tasty crispy skin.
How to carve? When your chicken is cooked, just slap it down on the carving board and quarter it. Now you can't get much more simple than that!
We all work long and hard during the week and it's the weekend when most of us are lucky enough to take a break, spend time with the family and indulge in our passions and interests. For me, one of those passions is cooking and even though I do write recipes as part of my day job, cooking is still an important part of our weekend family ritual. There's nothing better than everyone sitting down to a meal together, we can discuss the weeks event's, what's coming up next week and most importantly, enjoy being there in the present with each others company.
Trying to do something special and different all the time can become a strain so sometimes simple is best. Think about the secret of good Italian food; fresh basic ingredients, full of flavor and simply cooked. So why shouldn't we do the same?
I love chicken on a Sunday, and when the family is around the table, it's got to be a whole chicken carved right there. For some reason, chicken pieces just don't have that same effect do they? So how do you barbecue a whole chicken simply?
I have three steps for a simple barbecue chicken recipe for a Sunday night cookout. The first thing is to let the chicken do the talking, get one that's got some texture and flavor. Free range, corn-fed and organic if you can stretch to it. A free range chicken has so much more flavor and texture because while alive it's had the opportunity to move around and exercise its muscles and this really does make for a different meat.
Secondly, spatchcock it. This just means cutting down the backbone and opening the chicken out so that it is flat. Technically you should remove the keel bone ( commonly and mistakenly referred to as the breast bone) but it's not essential. Barbecue grilling your chicken flat like this means that it cooks in a shorter period of time (usually about 50 minutes) and it's an easy grill, just turn over at the halfway stage - now what could be more simple than that? In addition when you spatchcock the chicken the backbone is cut out, this is where the any bugs from the intestinal tract might still linger so preparing your chicken in this manner reduces the health risks too.
All you need to do to spatchcock your chicken is to sit it on a board on its neck and cut down either side of the backbone with a sharp knife. Flatten it and if you want to cut either side of the keel bone and "pop" it out.
The final thing for a simple grilled barbecue chicken recipe is the seasoning. Rub on a little olive oil and then season on both sides with salt and pepper. Not only is the most simple seasoning sometimes the best, the salt will draw the moisture out of the fat and give you that tasty crispy skin.
How to carve? When your chicken is cooked, just slap it down on the carving board and quarter it. Now you can't get much more simple than that!
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