50ml of olive oil
1/2 lemon
2 or 3 Piri Piri chillies
Freshly ground Black Pepper
1/2 tsp of sweet paprika
Sea Salt
3 cloves of garlic
1 Bay Leaf
1 Tbsp Brandy or cognac (optional)
Dried oregano
1 Chicken (about 1.5kg in weight) or 2 small chickens (500g)
Start by making your piri piri sauce. Grab a pestle and mortar and place the garlic and the chillies in there and give them a good bash. Mix all the remaining ingredients apart from the salt.
Now grab your chicken and with the help of some strong kitchen scissors, cut through the chest to open it up. Place the chicken, facing down, on the table and press with your hands to make it as flat as you can. This is called spatchcocking your chicken and if you don’t want to do it yourself, ask your butcher to do it for you; just remember to tell him you want it open in the front.
Once your chicken is open, give it a wash and dry it with paper towels.
Ideally you would do this on a barbecue but it can also be cooked on the oven grill. Place your chicken on the fired up grill (or preheated oven grill to 200C) and keep and eye on it. Once it starts to sweat and the fat is starting to melt, sprinkle some salt on both sides. Allow it to grill until is fully cooked and the juices run clear.
Once ready, brush the whole chicken with your piri piri sauce, allow to rest for 5 minutes before cutting it into pieces and brushing again.
Serve with chips, rice, salad and more piri piri sauce.