Roast Chicken with Pancetta and Olives

• servings: 8 items
• total time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 chickens (about 3 1/2 pounds each), backbones cut out and each chicken cut into 12 pieces (see cooks' note, below)

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped thyme

1 tablespoon chopped rosemary

1 tablespoon fine sea salt

1/2 to 1 teaspoon hot red-pepper flakes

10 garlic cloves, peeled

2 (1/4-inch-thick) slices pancetta, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 cup dry white wine

24 oil-cured black olives

Directions

Preheat oven to 450°F with rack in middle.

Toss chicken with oil, thyme, rosemary, sea salt, red-pepper flakes, and 1 teaspoon pepper, rubbing mixture into chicken.

Arrange chicken, skin side up, in 1 layer in a 17-by 11-inch 4-sided sheet pan. Scatter garlic and pancetta on top and roast until chicken begins to brown, about 20 minutes. Drizzle wine over chicken and roast 8 minutes more. Scatter olives over chicken and roast until skin is golden brown and chicken is cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes more. Let stand 10 minutes.