Pomegranate-Glazed Spatchcock Chicken

serves 4-6
Recipe from cookthink

Opening up a chicken and cooking it flat beneath a hot weight encourages it to cook quickly and evenly. In this version of spatchcock chicken, the flavors of bittersweet and fruity pomegranate molasses, lemon and thyme dovetail nicely with the crispy chicken.

instructions

1. Completely wrap a pizza stone or a two bricks with heavy duty aluminum foil, and preheat them on the middle rack of a 450F oven.

2. Spatchcock the chicken: with kitchen shears, cut along both sides of the backbone to remove it completely. Turn the chicken over and find the white elongated-diamond shaped breastbone. Cut along both sides of it with a paring knife, and pull it completely out so the chicken lies flat. Cut away and discard any excess fat on either end of the chicken.

3. Season the chicken very generously all over with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Rub it all over with the olive oil, and place it skin-side up on a large baking sheet.

4. Cut the lemon in half, squeeze the juice all over the chicken, then drizzle the chicken with the pomegranate molasses. Arrange the thyme sprigs all over the bird.

5. Put the chicken on the middle rack of the oven and put the foil-covered baking stone or bricks on top of it to weigh it down. Cook the chicken until it reaches 160F in the thickest part of the thigh, 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on the chicken's size.