Recipe for an insanely delicious chicken with anchovy butter
When we were forced to cook for ourselves every evening during the pandemic, we were fortunately helped by Alison Roman’s simple yet delicious dishes. The domestic goddess of the apocalypse had scored another real hit with her cookbook Nothing Fancy, which became a firm favorite in our editorial office, with hugely popular recipes like this insanely delicious chicken with anchovy butter.
Alison: “When someone asks me what I most like to make, I often give the most boring but honest answer I can think of: roast chicken. In my personal search for ‘the one’, I’ve tried every possible method – simply with salt and pepper, butterflied and slow-cooked, brined, trussed —but I always come back to this version: rubbed inside and out with a salty garlic-anchovy butter; roasted at high heat to brown the skin and then at a lower temperature to keep the meat juicy; filled with nothing more than even more garlic and perhaps some herbs; the legs crossed over each other (I have a strict no-trussing-no-fuss policy). I’ll admit it: this recipe is almost too much. The sticky juices of the roast chicken, the caramelized browned bits from the anchovy butter and the croutons that become wonderfully crisp in the fat, well … it’s all just too much. Almost. What other dish tempts you to lick a hot skillet clean?”
How to make the chicken with anchovy butter
- Preheat the oven to 215°C.
- Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and plenty of pepper; set it aside while you make the anchovy butter.
- Put the butter, anchovies and finely chopped garlic in a bowl and mash everything together with a fork; season with salt and pepper. Rub the chicken all over with this butter, inside and out (really into every nook and cranny). If you’re up for it, I recommend rubbing the butter under the skin as well.
- Fill the cavity of the chicken with the garlic halves and herbs and place the bird on a rimmed baking sheet or in a large skillet. Scatter the onions around the chicken and roast for 25-35 minutes, until it starts to brown. Toss the onions so they become coated with the fantastic fat that has dripped from the chicken. Reduce the oven temperature to 180 °C and roast the chicken for another 25-30 minutes, until the meat is cooked through and the onions are beautifully golden.
- Place the chicken on a cutting board, but leave the juices and onions on the baking sheet. Set the oven to 215 °C (I know, we’re at it again – but go ahead anyway) and toss the bread with all the wonderful fat and pan juices on the baking sheet, until it has absorbed all the bits left behind. Put the baking sheet in the oven for 10-15 minutes so the bread becomes crisp and toasted. Serve this with the chicken, with the roasted onions and parsley arranged around it and sprinkled over the top.
Title: Nothing Fancy
Author: Alison Roman
Price: €27.99
Publisher: Spectrum
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