Peri Peri Chicken

📝 Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken
• 700 g potatoes (thinly sliced and covered with cold water until needed)
• salt
• leaves from a few sprigs of thyme
• Marinade:
• 2 smoked jalapeños chillies (I used El Burro’s)
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes (optional and more to taste)
• 2 tbs smoked paprika
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbs salt
• a quarter cup red or white wine vinegar
• a quarter cup olive oil
• 1 tbs dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 2 cm fresh root ginger (peeled and sliced)
• 1 large onion (roughly chopped)
• fresh limes for serving

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C
2. 2Rinse the chicken inside and out and pat dry.
3. 3Place on a cutting board, breast down.
4. 4Using your knife or kitchen scissors, cut along both sides of the backbone to remove it.
5. 5Turn the chicken over and press it flat.
6. 6Place all the marinade ingredients in a food processor and blend to a paste.
7. 7Taste the heat of the marinade and add more chilli or chilli flakes if needed.
8. 8Brush a thick layer of marinade on the bottom of your baking pan.
9. 9Remove the potatoes from the water and pat dry.
10. 10Place the potatoes on top of the marinade and sprinkle with some salt and the thyme leaves. Brush the chicken all over with about half of the marinade (don't worry if some of the marinade ends up on the potatoes, you want that to happen).
11. 11Place the chicken skin side down on the potatoes, place in the oven and roast for 15 minutes. Turn chicken over, brush the chicken all over with half of the left over marinade and roast for a further 15 minutes.
12. 12Brush the chicken again with the last bit of marinade and roast for a further 20 – 30 minutes until cooked and the juices run clear when you pierce the thigh.
13. 13Return the chicken to the oven and increase the heat of the oven up to grill and grill the chicken for about 10 minutes to crisp the skin (you want the marinade to scorch a bit but keep an eye not to burn the skin.
14. 14Remove the dish from the oven, remove the chicken and let it rest for 10 minutes.
15. 15While the chicken rests, gently stir the potatoes through the juices in the pan and place back in the oven under the grill for about 10 minutes until the potatoes are golden brown and crispy on top.
16. 16Serve the chicken and potatoes with a few wedges of lime to squeeze over the chicken.