Stew's was having another chicken sale: 99 cents a pound! Therefore, a chicken was in order as the ice and snow raged outside...
I was in the midst of making bread, so by the time those gorgeous loaves came out of the oven, I was ready for the chicken to be done ASAP...
So spatchcocking was in order.
As we've discussed before, albeit with turkey...
http://www.thisoldchef.com/blog.html/norman_rockwell_ran_over_my_turkey/
You take kitchen shears and cut out the backbone, flip the bird over, and press until the breastbone snaps and your chicken looks like it's roadkill...
Lay it flat on a rack set in a half-sheet pan... and cook it at 425°-450° for about 50 minutes... et voilà.
But.
I wanted to add something, and the herbs in the garden have not enjoyed the past few weeks. So I looked in the freezer, and found a little bit of truffle butter. I let it soften and smeared it under the skin of the breasts... then did the same with some salt and pepper.
And THEN I put it in the oven.
I steamed some haricots verts, shocked them (in ice water I know you know), and then sautéed them with some mustard and served them with crispy coarsely crushed croutons on top.
I had some mashed potatoes, so I steamed a bit of chopped cabbage, combined the two and... instant colcannon!
Then I removed the breast and sliced it... and poured the jus from the pan over the meat. In the jus, I had melted a tiny bit more truffle butter...
The perfume was heavenly.
This was one of those meals. Not planned. But exactly right.