Roast chook and potatoes are made so much more interesting with some spicy marinade. And when you cook the chicken on top of thinly sliced potatoes, they absorb all the beautiful chicken juice, leaving them soft and delicious with crispy edges.
And best of all, this is all made in one pan = minimal cleanup. Add a beautiful salad and dinner for a crowd is is ready to go!
Jump to RecipeStart by making your marinade. I’ve used a mix of tomato paste, paprika, chilli flakes, garlic, olive oil, lemon zest and juice. Mix it around until smooth.
Time to butterfly your chicken. The first time I did this it was a little scary. You will be cutting out the backbone of the chicken so it spreads out. But fear not- once you’ve done it once, it gets easier, and cooks more evenly and faster.
Slice up one side of the backbone of the chicken, then the other and throw it away (unless you like to use it to make stock!). Turn the chicken over, flatten it out, twist the legs up so they sit flat, and now smear your marinade all over it. If you can do this a few hours before you cook it – all the better! I don’t often have the luxury of time!
I know I have the chicken in the roasting pan in the picture above, but you’ll need to take the chicken back out to put the potatoes in!
Time to slice up the potatoes. I used about 6 medium sized potatoes, or about 800g. My food processor helped with this one to make them about 2-3mm thick. Place the rest of the olive oil and a little of the marinade across the bottom of the roasting pan.
Fan the potatoes out them out across the base of the baking dish, they’ll be around 3-4cm deep.
Place the chicken back on top of the potatoes and bake for around 50 minutes to an hour – until the chicken is cooked through. I sprinkled a few fresh oregano leaves on top too.
Once it’s cooked, take the chicken off the potatoes and use a spatula to gently move the potatoes around. This will make sure the potatoes on the edges don’t get too burnt!
Let the chicken rest (with some foil on top) for 15 minutes while you place the potatoes back in the oven. When the potatoes have crisped up a little more, serve with some sliced chicken and a salad. I made a rocket, avocado, red capsicum & shallot salad, with a lemon juice and olive oil dressing.
Portuguese chicken and thinly sliced roast potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken
- 800 g potatoes thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 salad to serve (rocket, avocado, capsicum – whatever you like!)
- 1 tbsp fresh oregano leaves for sprinkling
Portuguese Marinade
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cloves garlic crushed and diced
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Heat your oven up to 180ºc, then start by making the marinade. Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a small bowl.
- Butterfly the chicken – use some kitchen scissors to cut up either side of the backbone of the chicken. Turn the chicken over, turn the legs up, and flatten the breastbone to make it nice and flat. Smear all over with the portuguese marinade. (If you can do this a few hours in advance – all the better for flavouring your chicken!)
- Slice your potatoes up really thinly – My food processor cuts them at about 2mm thick. Spread the olive oil across the bottom of a roasting pan, and arrange the slices of potato across the base. The potatoes were about 3-4cm thick across the base of the roasting pan.
- Place the chicken on top of the potatoes, sprinkle with oregano and cook until chicken is done (no pink juices) – this will likely take 50 minutes to an hour depending on the size of your chicken.
- Take the chicken out of the pan and cover with some foil . Use a spatula to gently move some of the potatoes around the base of the pan, and place back in the oven for 15 minutes to crisp up while your chicken rests.
- Take the potatoes out of the oven when a little crispy, cut your chicken up, make a salad, and serve straight on the table!
Notes
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