Best Peri Peri Chicken Ever

📝 Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken
• 700 g potatoes (thinly sliced and covered with cold water until needed)
• salt
• leaves from a few sprigs of thyme
• Peri Peri Marinade:
• 2 smoked jalapeños chillies or 3 tsp chipotle paste (or more to taste)
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes (or more to taste)
• 2 tbsp smoked paprika
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 2 cm piece fresh root ginger (peeled and sliced)
• 1/4 cup red or white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup Baleia Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp salt
• good squeeze of lemon juice
• 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 and using your knife or kitchen scissors, cut along both sides of the backbone to remove it. Turn the chicken over and press it flat.
4. 4Place all the marinade ingredients in a food processor and blend to a paste
5. 5Taste the heat of the marinade and add more chilli or chilli flakes if needed
6. 6Brush a thick layer of marinade on the bottom of a fairly deep roasting pan
7. 7Remove the potatoes from the water and pat dry
8. 8Place the potatoes on top of the marinade and sprinkle with some salt and the thyme leaves.
9. 9Brush 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)
10. 10Place the chicken skin side down on the potatoes, place in the oven and roast for 15 minutes
11. 11Turn the 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 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 too much)
14. 14Let the chicken 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 (keep a watch that it does not burn)
16. 16Serve the chicken and potatoes with a few wedges of lime to squeeze over the chicken (and lots of serviettes!)