Serves8
- Active time:25 min
- Start to finish:1 1/2 hr
RECIPE BY TONY OLTRANTI
January 2009
Oltranti and his family prepare this dish with rabbit, but it’s equally appealing with chicken. Roasted with super-savory pancetta and olives, the garlicky meat stays moist in a shallow bath of white wine.
View more of our favorite recipes from this issue.
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2
chickens (about 3 1/2 lb each), backbones cut out and each chicken cut into 12 pieces (see cooks’ note, below)
-
1/4
cup
extra-virgin olive oil
-
1 1/2
tablespoons
chopped thyme
-
1
tablespoon
chopped rosemary
-
1
tablespoon
fine sea salt
-
1/2 to 1
teaspoon
hot red-pepper flakes
-
10
garlic cloves, peeled
-
2 (1/4-inch-thick) slices pancetta, cut into 1-inch pieces
-
1
cup
dry white wine
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24
oil-cured black olives
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Preheat oven to 450°F with rack in middle.
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Toss chicken with oil, thyme, rosemary, sea salt, red-pepper flakes, and 1 tsp pepper, rubbing mixture into chicken.
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Arrange chicken, skin side up, in 1 layer in a 17- by 11-inch 4-sided sheet pan. Scatter garlic and pancetta on top and roast until chicken begins to brown, about 20 minutes. Drizzle wine over chicken and roast 8 minutes more. Scatter olives over chicken and roast until skin is golden brown and chicken is cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes more. Let stand 10 minutes.
Cooks’ note: To cut a chicken into 12 pieces, remove wings and cut each breast half into 3 pieces, then separate drumsticks and thighs. Backbones can be used to make chicken stock.
