Stuffed spatchcock chicken

Nothing like spatchcocking a chicken, stuffing it with butter onions and herbs to making a really gorgeous sauce that just comes together and miraculously forms in the bottom of the roasting pan when the chicken is cooked.

Based on a recipe from Neil Perry ( a chef I adore), this is the ingredients for the butter mixture that you slip in under the skin before cooking.

125g of unsalted butter
125g of cream cheese  (Neil Perry uses ricotta)
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 a red onion
2 T of finely chopped thyme
2 T of finely chopped parsley or chives or both
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Sea salt and pepper to taste
Mix all together with a fork till well combined

Once you have made your butter mixture you need to spatchcock your chicken.
All you need to do is cut the back bone out of the chicken.  With breast side up insert a heavy knife on one side of the back bone and chop right through.  Then chop right through the other side of the backbone and remove it.  Then open it up and flatten it out so it looks like the above picture.  The legs need to look knock kneed.

Gentle loosen the skin of the flesh and try not to tear it,  it doesn't really matter as it will make no difference to the taste and then put the butter mixture under the skin all the way down to the legs and thighs.  It is a particularly messing job but thats half the fun.
I slice and scatter a couple of white onions for the bird to sit on while it is roasting.  It adds to the flavour and adds some extra texture to the sauce.
Roast for approx 45mins to 1 hour depending on the size of the bird.
When it is ready the roasting pan will be filled with a delicious mouthwatering sauce.
Remove the chicken and let it rest for about 5 mins.  Pour the sauce into a jug.
Cut the chicken into pieces and serve with creamy mashed potatoes and greens and pour on that sauce. Yum Yum