Hot Skillet Lemon Chicken

by R.B. Quinn
How to braise spatchcocked chicken

Hot skillet lemon chicken. It’s reason enough to own a large (13 – 15″) cast-iron skillet and a pair of cooking shears.

This one-pan cool weather chicken gets the benefit of a lemony sauce that summer grilled chicken misses. Chicken broth, white wine, lemon slices, rosemary and sage, garlic and shallot, a little butter and olive oil all cook down beneath the chicken into a flavorful easy sauce. Simple. And with a hot cast iron skillet, you still get the great crispy chicken skin crust of grilled chicken.

To prep the meat, just cut out the backbone and flatten the bird before searing the skin in the skillet. Spatchcock is the term for that or butterflying. The goal is to get as much of the skin in contact with the pan as possible before flipping the bird over and braising in the oven with the sauce.

About the large cast-iron skillet. While large and heavy, it’s more than a handsome wall decoration or a prop at Civil War reenactment day. Perhaps not an everyday kitchen tool, but for some things, there is no replacement. The best example is thin and crispy southern cornbread. Clean with hot water and a stiff brush, no soap, no dishwasher. Season with a light coat of oil and all the bacon you can manage to cook in it.

 

 

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