The Devil's Chicken

I am a major roasted chicken fanatic. Did I ever tell you that? I rub those puppies and pop 'em in the oven like it's nobody's business. If it were up to me, I'd be roasting a whole chicken every two days.

Pollo al Diavolo

I normally have a solid-gold family recipe that I turn to whenever I get that perverse (yes, perverse) craving for BBQ chicken, but I do like to try out different recipes every other week. So far I've had some pretty good ones, including honey lavender chicken, cinnamon-orange chicken, and Jack Daniels bourbon chicken, but none have come even close to that savory, moist ooooohhhh reaction a good roasted chicken gives you like my regular recipe (which I won't be sharing, before you ask).

Enter Mario Batalli.

Now I've had his Molto Italiano recipe book for quite some time now, but I rarely get to really try out his recipes to the letter because I live in the vortex (read: Puerto Rico) and finding some of the ingredients his recipes ask for is a bit of a struggle. I did however, bookmark his recipe for his Pollo al Diavolo to do "someday" because I unabashedly slobbered all over the picture and never forgot it. Why I never got around to it until recently is beyond me, because it's so simple any beginner can do it.

The result is a perfectly roasted, moist, tasty chicken with a delicious crispy skin over a colorful red onion & cerry tomato salad. This chicken is incredibly tasty, and it actually reminds me of summers at St. Barths, where we'd eat Jojo Burger's BBQ-grilled chicken for lunch, like everyday (my grandfather never cooks). When something reminds you of your childhood (fondly), you know you can't get enough of it.

I think Mario's just as perverse as I am.

This recipe is pretty spicy, but it's mostly due to the Dijon mustard paste it calls for, so it's not hot-hot spicy, just omg-so-addictive spicy. You do have to prepare the spicy oil a few days beforehand, but I promise you it's totally worth it and the best part is, you'll have enough oil left over to make more chicken deliciousness for the next month or so. You could of course, skip it as it's just for drizzling but I'd strongly recommend against it. Also, this is a recipe you'll want to splurge on a good organic whole chicken for.

Ready? here we go. By the way, you're welcome.

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The Devil's Chicken Pollo al Diavolo

Ingredients

• 2 (2 1/2 to 3 pound) whole chicken, cleaned, trimmed, and patted dry (don't forget to remove the innards!)
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
• Salt, to taste
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 cup Italian parsley, roughly chopped

• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 12 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

• Spicy oil, (recipe follows)

Directions

This is what it looks like half-cooked and ready for round 2.
I had an 8-pounder, so I tripled the recipe.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Season the chicken inside and out with salt and pepper. Truss the chicken and it with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Place it on a roasting pan and roast until browned but only half-cooked, about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the 4 tablespoons black pepper, a pinch of salt and the mustard and stir well to combine. Drizzle in the 1 tablespoon olive oil and mix well, until blended. It should have a pasty texture.

Once the chicken is half-cooked, remove from the oven and brush it with the black pepper and mustard mixture. Return to the oven and continue roasting until the juices run clear from a pricked spot, about another 30 minutes, or until your thermometer reaches 165 degrees F. Let it rest 10 minutes before carving. 

While the chicken rests, in a medium-sized bowl, combine the parsley, red onion, tomatoes, remaining 3 tablespoons oil, sherry vinegar and salt and pepper, to taste, and toss well to combine.

Allow 1 breast and 1 leg per portion. Drizzle each portion with the pan juices and hot chili oil, top with the parsley salad and serve immediately. This recipe serves about 4.

OLIO PICCANTE

• 2 cups extra-virgin olive oil
• 10 jalapeno peppers, coarsely chopped
• 4 tablespoons red chili flakes

In a small saucepan, combine the oil, pepper and chili flakes. Heat to 140 degrees F and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to sit overnight or for 8 hours. Strain out solids. You can keep it in a recycled jar at room temperature. (Yield: 2 cups)
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Let me know how it goes!