In Simple Suppers, Sarah Graham serves her lemon and herb spatchcock chicken with a chargrilled corn and chickpea salad. Dave prefers to do the butchering himself and so I buy a whole chicken. All you need to do is cut the backbone out of the chicken and the press it down firmly to flatten it. I used the chicken from this recipe to make a chicken and leek pie.
Skip ahead to the recipe for Lemon And Herb Spatchcock Chicken
Teaspoon measures, and how I use them
Sherry has commented a few times on my 0.625mls measure, and I have decided to write about it. I have developed recipes for publication in America, the United Kingdom and South Africa. And whereas our teaspoon measures are all the same, if I worked for an Australian publication, I would have an issue if I used the word tablespoon. A tablespoon here is 15mls but it is 20mls in Australia. Because of these small, but not insignificant differences, I do not use 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 or 1 teaspoon. Rather, I use 0.625mls, 1.25mls, 2.5mls and 5mls. And for the most part, I use the 0.625mls measure to replace a pinch. A pinch of salt from my fingertips will be less than what Dave takes. And for preciseness I use the mls measure.
Dry and wet ingredients
I also use mls for dry ingredients as most people do not have a micro scale. And, when developing recipes, one has to use what most people will have access to. In saying that, I have checked and a 1/8 teaspoon measure is available in Australia, and is marked at 0.63mls. I also use grams for some wet ingredients, especially honey and yoghurt. When a recipe calls for a cup of yoghurt I get frustrated. I know it is probably just me, but that means scooping the yoghurt into the cup, levelling it off and hoping there are no air gaps, And then scraping it out of the cup. One more utensil to wash which could have been negated by telling me the weight. I have worked with numerous publications and have honed my recipe writing skills to what works best in my opinion.
Take a look at this inspiring recipe for ♥ Lemon And Herb Spatchcock Chicken ♥ from Lavender and Lime #LavenderAndLime Share on X
Click on the links for conversions and notes.
Lemon And Herb Spatchcock Chicken
Ingredients
- 40 g salted butter, softened
- 15 mls lemon juice
- 5 mls dried mixed herbs
- 1 whole chicken, spatchcocked
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
Method
- Prepare your braai so that it will be at a medium to high temperature when you are ready to braai
- Place the butter, lemon juice, and dried herbs into a bowl and mix to combine
- Take ⅓ of the butter and press under the skin of the chicken breasts
- Rub the rest of the butter onto the skin of the chicken then season generously
- Place the chicken skin side down onto your braai for 10 minutes
- Turn the chicken over and cook on the bone side for 30 minutes
- Turn the chicken over and cook for a further 5 minutes on the skin
- Remove from the braai, allow to rest and then carve and serve
See the links below for blog posts I published on July 16:
- 2024: Malt Loaf
- 2023: One Enchanted Evening
- 2021: Hand Cut Noodles
- 2018: Mini Zucchini Quiches
- 2017: The Praying Nun
- 2015: Raspberry Curd
- 2014: Four and Twenty
- 2013: Beef Dumplings Served In Broth
- 2012: Saffron Pasta
- 2011: Food Quiz Number 60 For A Friday
- 2010: Carrot Cake
thanks for all that info Tandy. It’s fascinating isn’t it how different countries have different measures? I seem to spend so much time deciphering and measuring for recipes. I have noticed lately that even here in australia, people have started to use grams for liquids – which has never been the case before. And also, people don’t seem to realise that they are not the same thing! I saw a recipe with 400 mils equated to 400 grams – when they are not the same! Probably won’t make much difference in most recipes but it could do! My big beef is when they are using cup measurements – grrrrr! so annoying.
sherry
I sometimes use gram measures for liquids such as water and oil but usually only for my bread recipes. But, 400mls is not 400g when you are talking about honey, yoghurt etc. so that is frustrating. I do not like cup measurements for flour etc. as who knows how it is packed in the cup?
Great way to cook a chicken
thanks Sheree 🙂
Those pot pies look terrific! I noticed 1 cup of flour in Australian recipes is usually 150 grams. Could be a problem if one baking a cake or bread.
That could indeed be a huge problem when baking!
Interesting! I’ve never thought about differences in measurements – especially a tablespoon! Great recipe.
The tablespoon measure floored me the first time I came across that!
Spatchcock turkey was a BIG Thanksgiving trend a few years back and it made me hate the word itself, but I can see the technique has its merits!
I am not sure I would try and spatchcocking a turkey!
Spatchcocking is a great way to cook a whole chicken. The chicken & leek pies look terrific.
Thank you so much for the compliment 🙂
I sort of do the same with measurements. I use 1 Tbspn (15ml). You said braid and most non- South Africans don’t know braid 😉😂
I gather you mean braai 😉 I uses to change it to BBQ in the past 🙂
Tandy, your chicken pot pies are gorgeous! You made me smile as my husband is also in charge of the “butchering” at home 🙂 On a completely different subject, it is so interesting that in Australia tablespoons are bigger! In the US, I am fine using the tsp and tbsp but I cannot do the cups, it is so irregular and when I used to live in Utah it really threw me off because in high altitude, cups do not weight the same. I just like a good old scale! ~Nessa
It is nice to weigh yourself at higher altitude though 😉 Also, cups in the US are 240ml and in South Africa they are 250mls 🙂
Looks delicious, Tandy! Lemon and herbs are such a lovely combination.
Thanks so much!
My husband is a huge fan of lemon and he eats chicken. This would be a dish he would really dig into. I can see where measurements can be confusing between countries.
I hope you make this for him 🙂
That chicken looks so juicy, Tandy!
Lemon and herbs are always a winning combo, and I love how you turned it into a pie afterwards — such clever use of leftovers.
That chicken looks so juicy, Tandy! Lemon and herbs are always a winning combo, and I love how you turned it into a pie afterwards — such clever use of leftovers.
I cannot lay claim to the idea, but I do like using chicken in various ways when we have left overs 🙂
A great chicken recipe that makes for a nice change. In France, we don’t use “cups”; we use grams or liters. However, conversion charts are available. Have a great day!
I like the fact you use grams and litres. So many people do not want to look at conversion charts 🙂
Tandy I know that the issue of measuring ingredients really can be problematic. I am somewhat old school probably, and still think in terms of liquids in mls and dry ingredients in grams but I have learned to adapt and be flexible, and I have two sets of measuring spoons, from 1 tablespoon down to 1/8 teaspoon which I have never had a problem with, and two sets of measuring cups. and a set of measuring scales. I also have even smaller measuring spoons which I used during my cheesemaking era. But I guess those are all in Australian measurements. Still none of this seems to have affected my cooking results. It can be a real issue with baking sweets I suppose, and something to be aware of. A braai isn’t something I am familiar with, but similar to our BBQ plate I suppose. Pauline (Happy Retirees Kitchen)
A friend pointed out I should not have used the word braai! It is of course a BBQ 😉