Chicken Chimehuin
There are a lot of takes on a flattened chicken (spatchcock) on the grill. Pollo al matton (chicken under a brick) is the typical Italian version and very similar with garlic and rosemary. This specific version is Francis Mallmann from his book Seven Fires, attributed to a childhood friend of his. Nothing unique, but plenty special.
It is simple with (lots of) garlic, lemon, and rosemary enhancing the chicken. The real trick here is cutting out the spine and flattening the bird. If you’ve never done this before it will be quite novel the first few times. This sort of work is why poultry shears exist. If you don’t have a good pair of kitchen scissors that can handle cutting through a chicken ribcage you really ought to get some, doing this with a knife is foolish.
I like to grill the chicken and then place it on top of a plate full of rice pilaf so the juices flow into the rice as you cut the chicken to serve. You can squeeze more than one lemon over this as it cooks, the more the merrier.
I recommend that you clean your grill before making this if you have a gas grill. The chicken will give off a lot of melted fat which will catch fire. If the grill is dirty that will provide surface and fuel for an epic grill fire.
1 chicken, about 2¾ pounds Coarse salt Juice of 1 lemon ¼ cup fresh rosemary leaves, minced 1 head garlic, separated into cloves, smashed, and peeled Extra virgin olive oil Minced Lemon Confit Parsley, Olive Oil, and Garlic Sauce
Cut out the spine of the chicken, spread it out with the former body cavity facing down and skin on top, and push it down flat. Finely mince the rosemary and garlic, you can put the garlic through a microplane if you have one. Push some under the skin, and rub it everywhere. Season well with salt and lemon juice.
Grill medium, closed, skin side up for 15 minutes. Then flip and grill a further 15. Sprinkle with lemon juice, ideally by squeezing lemon halves, periodically.