Peruvian Roast Chicken with Aji Verde

Peruvian roast chicken is everything I love about roast chicken: The crisp and golden skin, calling dibs on a drumstick, and that mind blowing aroma that fills my kitchen.  But this Peruvian roast chicken recipe isn’t just another roast chicken recipe.  Here’s why: 

•It’s smoky and a little spicy, but with pizzazz.  I’m sticking as close as possible to the real thing by adding two kinds of Peruvian chile pastes: aji amarillo and aji panca (aji means chile peppers).  These two actually taste quite different.  Aji amarillo is spicy, bright, and just a little sweet, while aji panca has big, bold, and smoky flavors without as much heat.  Can’t find either?  Sub a tad of cayenne pepper for the aji amarillo and smoked paprika for the aji panca. 

•Also, meet aji verde. It’s a creamy, punchy, and cool green sauce that is traditionally served with Peruvian chicken – ideally slathered. (It’s also perfect for dipping veggies and ruffled potato chips.) 

•You can’t serve this on a platter looking like a whole roasted chicken.  It’ll look more like a deeply tanned starfish alien because the chicken is spatchcocked. 

What the spatchcock?

Spatchcocking sounds dirty, but it just means removing the backbone and flattening the chicken so that each part cooks to perfection at the same time.  It also cuts back on the roasting time.  Some may call it butterflying.  I’m sticking to spatchcocking.  Here’s how you spatchcock a chicken: 

PSA: If the thought of cutting through bones freaks you out, call your most heroic friend or neighborly butcher for help.  Need a way out?  Just use four chicken legs and cut the cook time down to about 45 minutes.  Otherwise, gather your bird, sharp kitchen shears, and a large cutting board. 

1. Place chicken breast-side down on the cutting board. 
2. Hold it firmly with one hand.  Using kitchen shears, cut down one side of the backbone from tail to neck.  You may need the strength of both hands on the shears to get through some parts. 
3. Repeat by cutting the other side of the backbone, removing it completely. 
4. Flip your bird (hee!) so the breast-side is now facing up. 
5. Place the palm of your hand on top of the breasts and press down firmly (use your body weight on it) until it lies flat.  Your chicken is now spatchcocked.

Have you made this yet? Let us know how it went in the comments below!