Roast Chicken With Peppers, Focaccia and Basil Aioli
- Total Time
- 1 hour 45 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
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Ingredients
- 1whole chicken (4 to 5 pounds)
- 1tablespoon dried oregano, preferably wild
- 1tablespoon plus 1½ teaspoons flaky sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1cup good-quality red wine vinegar
- 3red bell peppers
- 2yellow bell peppers
- 1loaf focaccia (about 14 ounces), halved horizontally if thicker than 1 inch
- 2heads garlic, sliced in half widthwise through cloves
- ½cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1packed cup fresh basil leaves
- ¼cup lemon juice (from 2 lemons), plus more to taste
- 4cloves garlic, grated
- 2teaspoons flaky sea salt, plus more to taste
- 4egg yolks
- 2⅔cups extra-virgin olive oil
- Cold water, as needed
For the Chicken
For the Aioli
Preparation
- Step 1
Prepare the chicken: Set the chicken on a work surface breast-side down. Use shears or kitchen scissors to remove and discard the backbone, then cut through the wishbone and along one side of the breast plate to separate the chicken into two halves. In a 9-by-13-inch (or similar size) baking dish, season the two chicken halves with half the oregano, 1 tablespoon salt and a few grinds of pepper. Drizzle with ¾ cup vinegar. Set aside, or cover and refrigerate up to 2 hours in advance.
- Step 2
Blister the peppers: Turn the stovetop gas flames on high heat. Place the peppers directly over the flames, bottom-side down, and blister until the peppers are beginning to soften, rotating until the bottom, sides and tops are blackened, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a paper bag, fold to seal and let cool, 5 minutes.
- Step 3
Working over a bowl to collect the juices, peel each pepper, then tear into thick strips, discarding the stems and seeds as you separate the pepper. Season peppers with the remaining ¼ cup vinegar, 1½ teaspoons oregano and 1½ teaspoons salt, and toss to coat.
- Step 4
Heat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Step 5
Tear 2 pieces of focaccia (using about half the loaf) into portions that are slightly smaller than the 2 pieces of chicken. Rub both pieces of focaccia with the halved garlic and transfer to the baking dish. Place the marinated chicken on top of each piece of torn focaccia, skin side up. Tuck garlic heads and peppers around the chicken. Tear remaining focaccia into shards and tuck these around the chicken and peppers. Pour any juices from the peppers over the whole dish and drizzle the olive oil over everything.
- Step 6
Bake until the chicken comes to 165 degrees, about 1 hour, depending on the size of your bird. If bread or peppers are getting burned before the chicken is fully cooked, cover those areas with aluminum foil and continue cooking.
- Step 7
Meanwhile, prepare the aioli: Using a mortar and pestle, working in batches if necessary, mash basil with lemon juice, garlic and sea salt until it forms a paste. Either by hand in a bowl with a whisk or in a food processor, whirl egg yolks then begin adding the oil very slowly, whisking or blending until mixture is emulsified and thickened and all the oil has been added. (If mixture seems to thicken too much for the machine as you blend, pause to add a tablespoon of cold water.) Blend in basil paste until combined. Add additional cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, to achieve a dippable texture; season to taste with salt and lemon. (Makes 3½ cups.) Use immediately or refrigerate until use, up to 3 days (see Tip).
- Step 8
Once chicken is cooked through, remove from oven and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve directly from the baking dish, family-style, with aioli on the side.
- There are myriad uses for leftover aioli: Toss raw tomatoes in it, spread it thickly on baguette with tuna and boiled egg to make pain bagnat, dip stolen cold cuts or crudités from the fridge into it or use as you please.
Private Notes
Comments
It is unclear on this recipe if you need to drain the marinade from the chicken before placing it on the focaccia for baking or not. Please advise.
Absolutely scrumptious! I read the comments and made the following adjustments: I halved the vinegar and added the marinade with the chicken. I used 8 skin on chicken thighs. I allowed the chicken (placed on the focaccia) to roast with the garlic, alone, for the first 25 minutes, and then added the peppers, pepper juice and the bread that is tucked in around the chicken. It took another 25 minutes and was done. Perfect! No burnt bread or disintegrating peppers, and not too vinegary.
This is a delicious recipe with some very obvious and fixable flaws. First of all use cut up chicken pieces not a whole split chicken and use peeled cloves of garlic not 2 split heads. The end result is this big casserole dish of chicken veggies and bread but you have to keep picking out arlic peels and the inedible parts of the chickens carcass. You dont need to necessarily go with totally boneless parts but you'd be way better off starting with a pack of cut up breasts, legs, etc.
Made exactly as written (discarded the marinade) and enjoyed it immensely but next time I would make a few tweaks, namely leaving the focaccia out of the baking dish and just serving it on the side. I thought the peppers on their own would be enough of a vegetable 'side' but they do tend to melt (deliciously) into the sauce so I would add on a side salad or something equally verdant to go with.
Delicious and different. Enjoying the variety of flavors you get with this. I went with some of the tips. I placed sliced potatoes under the chicken instead of focaccia and I’m glad I did. Added fresh oregano and some lemon thyme under the chicken, then roasted 25 mins with chicken and garlic, and then 24 minutes with peppers and focaccia. Added some of the roast pepper juices during first half of cooking, then the rest when adding peppers and focaccia. I basted the bird and little bits of the focaccia. Made for great flavor. The potatoes ended up tasting bit like German potato salad because they absorbed the vinegar- very interesting. Pretty much dipped everything in the aioli. Agree with many here, too garlic. Next time I’ll cut the aioli garlic 1/2 and add a touch more lemon. It does produce a lot but we’ll eat it up in 3 days!
This recipe is excellent however I have a vew notes: 1. Remember to roast the peppers whole (if you core them in advance of roasting you wil lose the all important juice!). 2. If you don't have a gas stove you can always rost pepers on a barbecue. 3. you can transfer the roasted peppers to a bowl covered with a tea towel to limit waste and in the event you do not have a paper bag handy