Recipe: Roast Chicken with Radicchio and Green Olive Orecchiette
Simple Italian flavours cleverly combined to produce an unforgettable plate of food
Combining deliciously bitter radicchio, meaty Sicilian green olives, juicy roasted chicken, al dente orecchiette pasta and a mouth-watering chicken gravy sauce with grated parmesan. A hugely comforting and easy dish to prepare that you will want to make again and again.
Why do we butterfly chicken?
Butterfly chicken (also known as spatchcock chicken) is a cooking technique where the backbone of the chicken is cut out, allowing the chicken to lie flat (like a butterfly).
Does spatchcocking reduce cooking time?
Butterflying (spatchcocking) chicken reduces the cooking time as well as circulating heat through and around the meat more evenly. The skin gets crispier and the chicken remains wonderfully juicy. It also cools faster, releasing tasty fat and juices that make up the sauce for this Roast Chicken with Radicchio and Green Olive Orecchiette recipe.
How to butterfly a chicken
Want to learn to spatchcock a chicken? Watch the video below to see how easily it can be done at home in minutes…
What are Castelvetrano Olives?
Castelvetrano olives are a Sicilian green olive famous for their green color. They taste buttery, sweet, crisp and have a meaty texture. Unlike other variations of typical brown ‘muddy’ coloured olives, Castelvetranos are a bright clean shade of green.
Where can I buy Castelvetrano olives? You can usually find fresh Castelvetrano olives in Italian and Mediterranean delicatessens. Jarred versions are available online and in some major supermarkets.
Keep scrolling for the recipe Roast Chicken with Radicchio and Green Olive Orecchiette…
What is Orecchiette Pasta?
The Italian word ‘Orecchietta’ can be dicided into two for its meaning – ‘orecchia‘ means ‘ear’, and ‘etta’ means ‘small’. The pasta has this name due to its shape, which resembles a small ear. A clearer description would be to say each piece resembles a small dome, with its center thinner than its edge, with the outside having a rough surface. The inner ‘dome’ of the pasta collects and holds it’s sauce during cooking and serving, making each mouthful very pleasing.
Roast Chicken with Radicchio and Green Olive Orecchiette
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken butterflied (spatchcock)
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 300 g orecchiette pasta
- 1 tsp powdered chicken stock
- 150 gm radicchio
- 170 g jar green Castelvetrano olives
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp dried chilli flakes
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp honey
- Parmesan cheese
- Squeeze of lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C (fan-forced).
- Lay butterflied chicken flat on a roasting tray, drizzle and rub with olive oil, sprinkle with salt. Roast for 50 minutes.
- Allow chicken to cool in the roasting pan for 20 minutes to release its juices.
- Meanwhile, make the pasta: Add powdered chicken stock and some salt to a medium saucepan filled with water. Bring to the boil, add pasta and cook until al dente.
- Drain pasta reserving 250ml of the cooking liquid. To the liquid add garlic powder, chilli flakes, balsamic, dijon mustard and honey. Stir to combine.
- Remove chicken from the tray which should have a nice amount of chicken fat and juices in it. Add pasta water and mix together. Place tray on the stovetop and cook until liquid has thickened slightly.
- Remove tray from the stovetop, add pasta and coat in the chicken sauce. Next toss through radicchio and olives along with a squeeze of lemon. Season with salt and pepper.
- Garnish generously with parmesan shavings.
- Serve orecchiette alongside the roasted chicken, spooning over any left over chicken sauce.
