Tony Jackman’s air fryer spatchcock chicken with espetada-style aromatics. (Photo: Tony Jackman)
Countless of my recipes have been born while I’ve been staring blankly at the contents of supermarket fridges, hoping for inspiration.
On Monday afternoon, my eyes were fixed on three plump chickens. But my mind was on espetada. My next thought was: but I’ve written about Madeiran espetada, both chicken and beef.
I was about to move on when I stopped, and the penny dropped: how about using espetada aromatics to flavour a whole chicken, then spatchcock it and have a go at roasting it in my larger air fryer (its capacity is 5.7 litres)? And there you go: a recipe was born.
The seasonings of espetada – it’s just the Portuguese word for “skewered” – are precise and simple: bay leaves, garlic, coarse salt. That’s all. Some recipes call for chilli, herbs and whatnot. Nothing except the bay, garlic and salt are necessary, and any additional aromatic takes something away from the core flavour that those three ingredients bring.
And, while we are not skewering chunks of chicken or beef here, as you would for a proper espetada dish, a spatchcock chicken is skewered, so we can argue the toss on that score.
Note: the chicken needs a full day of marination, so plan ahead.
Tony’s spatchcocked chicken with espetada aromatics
(Per 1 medium chicken)
Ingredients
1 medium chicken, spatchcocked (see below)
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
12 bay leaves
Coarse salt, about 1 Tbsp (not heaped)
Olive oil for braaing
A little fine salt
Method
Prepare the chicken the day before you intend to braai it.
Spatchcock the chicken by putting it breast side down on a working surface. Use a sharp chef’s knife to cut all the way down both sides of the spine so that you can remove it in one piece. This is discarded or frozen for a future stock. Then, turn the bird over and push down with the palms of both hands, to flatten the bird.
Pick (or buy, beg, or “borrow” from a neighbour’s garden) 12 bay leaves. Chop the garlic finely and mix it with the coarse salt. Crumble the bay leaves and tear them up. Mix them into the salt and garlic.
Prise the skin at one end of each breast with your fingers and push a quarter of the mixture under the skin, spreading it around by massaging the skin above it. Do the same with the two thigh/leg sections.
Place in a dish, cover with foil and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Remove from the fridge 90 minutes before cooking it.
Push skewers in from the legs/thighs all the way through to the opposite upper breast. Do the same on the other side. Consult the photo to see how that works. Refrigerate for several hours.
Preheat an air fryer to 180°C.
Push a skewer through, from one thigh through the opposite breast, until the end of the skewer emerges at the far end, then do the same with the other skewer through the opposite joints.
Brush the chicken top and bottom with olive oil. Salt the skin very lightly with fine salt.
Roast in the air fryer, skin side down at first, for 20 minutes at 180°C, then turn the chicken over and cook for another 15 minutes, skin side up, still at 180°C.
After another 15 minutes, turn the heat up to 200°C for 10 to 15 minutes. That’s a total of 50 minutes, but check at 40 and 45 minutes as it might be done by then depending on the size of the bird.
The juices should run clear when a skewer is inserted through the thickest part of the breast and/or thigh.
Serve with Brazilian garlic rice, the recipe for which is in this recipe for picadillo, a ground (minced) beef dish. DM
Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the Year award, in 2021 and 2023.
The chicken is photographed on my favourite Mervyn Gers Ceramics plate.
Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.