Chicken Au Poivre

Ingredients

1 whole roasting chicken - mine was 4.5 lbs

1 tablespoon Maldon salt for the chicken

1 teaspoon of Maldon salt for the cream mixture

1/2 teaspoon olive oil

1.5 tablespoons whole peppercorns

1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary

5 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 medium to large shallot, finely chopped

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup dry sherry cooking wine

Directions

Spatchcock the chicken by cutting along the breast bone on both sides so that the chicken lies flat in a baking pan (or have your butcher do this for you). Season the underside of the chicken with about 1/2 a tablespoon of Maldon. Then massage the skin side of the chicken with olive oil and season with other 1/2 tablespoon of the Maldon.

Preheat your oven to 375° F convection.

To prepare the peppercorns, place them between two tea towels and begin to pulverize them by bashing them with a mallet or rolling pin. You can also do this in a pestle and mortar. You want them broken up but not too fine. There should be some large pieces of peppercorn throughout. Place them in a mixing bowl with the rosemary, garlic, shallots, and 1 teaspoon of Maldon salt. Then whisk to combine the heavy whipping cream into the aromatics. Set aside.

Next, the chicken goes into the oven, skin side up, for about 15 minutes. It will be slightly golden. Then remove and pour the peppercorn sauce over the chicken. Add the sherry cooking wine to the cream mixture and I do this by pouring it around the chicken and into the cream sauce. Increase the oven temp to 400° and back into the oven. Baste the chicken two times during this second cooking period, I set a timer for every 15 minutes. After 30-35 minutes it should be done. It will be golden and bubbling and it will smell out of this world. I use a meat thermometer whenever I cook chicken and when the meat therm hits 165 F in the thickest part of the breast, it’s cooked. Remember, when you spatchcock a chicken, it cooks a lot quicker and more evenly.

Let the chicken rest for ten minutes before serving.