Cooking with Colm O'Gorman: Spatchcock Piri Piri Chicken

Forget Nandos - this piri piri chicken is the real deal 

Piri Piri Chicken is a traditional Portuguese dish made with hot red chilli peppers, garlic, lemon or vinegar and herbs. While chilli is not often thought of as a traditional ingredient in European food, it was the Portuguese who introduced chilli peppers to Africa and India, having brought them from Brazil. Piri Piri chilli peppers are very like bird’s eye chillies, small and potent, they pack a real punch. In my recipe, I use larger red chillies as these are easier to get hold of locally. I roast the chillies and a red pepper for some extra sweetness and depth of flavour to my sauce. You can skip this step if you wish, but honestly, it is worth the little extra effort it takes.

A spatchcocked chicken will cook in around 35 to 40 minutes. I cook spatchcock chicken a lot, as besides being quick to roast, it is perfect for cooking with marinades or sauces as it absorbs lots of flavour while cooking.

You can ask a butcher to spatchcock your chicken for you if you wish, but it is actually very easy to do at home. Start by placing your chicken breast-side down, with the legs towards you. Using a sturdy scissors or poultry shears, cut up along each side of backbone from the pope’s nose to the neck cavity to remove it, cutting through the rib bones as you go. Open the chicken out and turn it over. Flatten the breastbone with the heel of your hand so that the meat is all one thickness. Trim away any excess fat and you are done, it is as simple as that.

Spatchcock piri piri chicken

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

Serve this spicy chicken with corn on the cob and oven chips

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 60 mins

Cooking Time

 40 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 40 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Porguguese

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken approx. 1.6kg in weight

• For the marinade:

• 4 cloves of garlic

• Juice of one lemon

• 2 tsp flaky sea salt

• For the Peri Peri sauce:

• 4 red chillies

• 1 red bell pepper

• 1 tsp flaky sea salt

• 1 clove garlic

• Juice of ½ a lemon

• 50ml olive oil

• ½ tsp dried oregano

• Small handful of fresh basil

• 2 tbsp honey

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

Method

1. First, make the marinade for your chicken. Grate the garlic and mix it with the lemon juice and salt. Put the spatchcock chicken in a roasting tray and pour over the marinade, rubbing it in all over the chicken. Set it aside and let it marinade for one hour before cooking.

2. While the chicken is marinading, make your sauce. If you like, you can make the sauce well in advance. It will easily keep in the fridge for a week or more.

3. Warm your oven to 190°C. Put the red pepper on a baking tray and roast until it is lightly charred, about thirty minutes.  I often char peppers over the wok burner on my gas hob, which is quicker, but the oven method may seem a bit safer if you prefer. When it is done, pop the whole roasted pepper into a bowl. Cover the bowl with some cling film and allow it to cool for thirty minutes.

4. While it is cooling, warm a heavy based frying pan over a high heat. Wash the chilli peppers and pop them into the dry pan. Turn them every few minutes until they are blistered and a little charred, then remove them from the heat.

5. Chop the chillies. I leave the seeds and stalks in the chillies for my sauce as I like it good and spicy but adjust to your own taste. Leave the seeds in just one or two if you wish or remove them. Bear in mind though that the sauce will not taste as hot once it is cooked and then served with the chicken, so expect the end dish to be milder than you might imagine. If you are a little hesitant about the level of spiciness, just remove all the seeds and stalks the first time you try this recipe, make your sauce, and then add some cayenne pepper to your sauce at the end if you would like extra heat.  

6. Remove the stalks, seeds, and skin from the now cooled pepper. Roughly chop the garlic. Put the chopped chillies, the flesh from the roasted red pepper, the garlic and all the other ingredients for the sauce in a blender or food processor and blitz until smooth. Pour the sauce into a small saucepan and bring it to a simmer. Let is cook over a low heat for about ten minutes, then taste and add more seasoning if needed. If you have left out the chilli seeds and stalks and now realise you want a little more spiciness, add a little cayenne pepper to taste.

7. When you are ready to cook the chicken, heat the oven to 200°C. Roast the chicken for twenty-five minutes, before removing it from the oven and brushing it all over with some of the peri peri sauce. Pop it back in the oven for another ten to fifteen minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is a little crispy.  Finish it off under a hot grill if you would like to get a little char on the skin. Once the internal temperature of the chicken breast is at 74°C, it is perfectly cooked. If you do not have a meat thermometer, just stick a skewer in the chicken and if the juices run clear, it is ready.

8. Pop the cooked chicken onto a chopping board and cut it into portions. Serve it on a platter with some of the peri peri sauce poured over the chicken and more on the side. Enjoy with your favourite sides; oven chips and corn on the cob smothered in melted butter would be perfect, or even some peas cooked in a little butter with some finely chopped red chilli and mint.