Chicken Al Mattone

One of my favorite things to do is browsing cookbooks at Barnes & Nobles on a lazy Saturday afternoon. I first came across the Chicken Al Mattone recipe in the Bon Appétit magazine. It was around 1:30 pm and I was starving. The picture of a juicy, perfectly-roasted bird made my mouth water. I was thinking to myself, "I have got to try this recipe on Sunday!"

Apparently, roasting a chicken al mattone ("with a brick") is an old Italian technique. The brick presses the chicken onto the pan so that it comes out moist and juicy, with lovely golden skin. And it doesn't require much seasoning, just a simple marinade. I would recommend getting an organic chicken (trust me, it is sooo worth the money!), and marinade it overnight.

Here is what you will need:

1. One 4-5 lb. organic young chicken - make sure you take out its back bone. If you are too chicken to do it yourself, then get the butcher from the store to do it for you.

2. For the marinade, mix one table spoon of extra virgin olive oil, three cloves of crushed garlic, two tea spoons of dry or fresh rosemary, half tea spoon of pepper, half tea spoon of salt, and the juice of one lemon. If you like some kick to your dish, sprinkle some dry hot pepper flakes on the chicken.

3. A brick - I mean a BRICK! Many thanks to Joe Mama, who walked all over the neighborhood in search of a perfect brick.

Brown the marinaded chicken breast side down in an oven safe pan with butter (about 7 minutes). Put the brick on top of the chicken as shown in the photo. Bake the whole thing in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Flip the chicken over and bake it for another 10 minutes. By the way, if you have not figured out that you need to wrap the brick with foil by now, you should not attempt to cook this dish.

style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px" alt="finished product!" src="">Let the chicken cool for a few minutes before digging in. The juice is absolutely delicious and the leftover chicken, if there is any, will make a great roast chicken sandwich next day!

Side dish: Roasted mini peppers and brussel sprouts in the pan with butter, season with salt, pepper, and a few drips of grape seed oil.