Lemon and spiced butter give the chicken a delicious taste.
A whole, butterflied chicken seasoned with rosemary and smeared all over with lemon-garlic butter is a delicious addition to the Easter table.
As a side dish, for example, spring green asparagus is delicious grilled or pan-roasted.
Butterflying a whole chicken means that the backbone of the chicken is cut out, which allows the chicken to be pressed flat. In this way, different parts of the chicken are best cooked at the same time. Butterflied chicken can be prepared in the oven or, weather permitting, also on the grill.
You get the most flavor in chicken when you rub seasoned butter on its surface – and also under the skin. Lemon, garlic and fresh herbs are good flavor combos with chicken, but you can also try ras el hanout butter if you want to take the taste world of your Easter meal in the direction of the Middle East.
Butterflied chicken in the oven
(for 4 people)
1 (about 1.2 kg) whole chicken
1 ½ teaspoons of salt
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Seasoned butter:
50 g room temperature butter
3 cloves of garlic
3 bushy sprigs of rosemary
1 lemon peel
In addition:
4 whole garlic cloves
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 small lemon
sprigs of rosemary
1. Bring the chicken to room temperature 30 minutes before cooking.
2. Cut the butter into a bowl. Grate the garlic cloves and the yellow zest of the lemon. Chop the rosemary and mix all the ingredients together.
3. Wipe the chicken dry. Turn it back side up and use sturdy scissors to cut on both sides of the spine to remove the spine. Rub the salt on the surface of the chicken.
4. Carefully insert your finger at the neck of the chicken between the skin and the breast. Move your finger so that the skin comes off the meat. Fill the resulting space with spices. Rub the rest of the butter on the surface of the chicken. Fold the wings back and tie the legs with string if necessary.
5. Heat the oil in an oven-proof pan. Fry the chicken in it, breast side down, until the skin is browned, 3–5 minutes.
6. Cut the garlic in half with the skin on. Put them in the pan with the chicken. Drizzle oil over the garlic.
7. Put the pan in a 225-degree oven and cook the chicken for 25 minutes first. Meanwhile, slice the lemon.
8. Take the pan out of the oven, turn the chicken breast side up. If the garlic feels soft, take it out at this stage and keep it warm under foil.
9. Add the lemon slices to the pan. Continue cooking for another 10-15 minutes until the internal temperature of the chicken is 75 degrees. Garnish with rosemary sprigs.
Wine tip
A delicious Piedmontese white wine, Roberto Sarotto Gavi Virgilio (€14.49), is chosen for the light, lemon-flavored chicken meal.
This quite wallet-friendly wine is wonderfully fruity both in taste and aroma, and although the wine is dry, the mouthfeel is round. A long, cool fermentation process takes care of that.
Gavi Virgilio is an excellent white wine for the summer season, which can also be enjoyed on its own during Easter cooking or with various light summer dishes such as fish and chicken. The wine goes particularly well with a variety of seafood dishes.