Crisped Chicken w Tomatoes + Shallot Sofrito

This was one of my best recipes from summers past. It’s got all the notes of a simply delicious summer dish. I really like the method of making the sofrito base for this — it’s useful for so many other recipes. It’s a great foundation for pasta, stew, or even some swordfish.

The original plan was to mix some butter beans into the sofrito, but sometimes things just don’t go as planned in the kitchen — especially when there are a few people waiting patiently to eat.

Ingredients

• 1 chicken, halved and deboned

• 4 shallots, minced

• 6 cloves garlic, minced

• 4 tbsp tomato paste

• 8–10 tomatoes, quartered (golf ball–sized)

• 4 sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped

• 1/4 cup dill, picked and roughly chopped

• Olive oil

• Salt + black pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325°F.

To butcher the chicken, remove each side so you’re left with two halves. I prefer this method to spatchcocking and often remove the thigh and leg bones to have a fully boneless chicken (the bones and leftover carcass make for a great stock). Watch here to see the method I’m referring to. Once butchered, set your chicken on a tray or rack and salt both sides. Let rest.

Warm a saucepan over medium heat and add about 1/4 cup of olive oil. Add the shallots and garlic and sauté until soft but without color. Stir in the tomato paste and let it begin to caramelize, about 3–5 minutes (lower the heat if needed). Remove from the heat and set aside.

By now your chicken should be sweating — go ahead and pat it dry. Coat a cast iron or large skillet with oil and place on the stove. Add your chicken skin-side down into the cold pan and begin cooking over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, place a weight atop the chicken to press it down and help crisp the skin. After about 10–12 minutes, the chicken should be well browned and ready to flip.

Flip the chicken and place it in the oven, skin-side up, for 5–10 minutes to finish cooking. It’s best to check halfway through or use a thermometer to avoid overcooking (always check the thickest part).

While the chicken is in the oven, turn the heat back on under the sofrito. Once hot, add a bit more oil if needed, some salt, the quartered tomatoes, and sun-dried tomatoes. Cook down for 5–7 minutes — this should line up with the chicken coming out of the oven. You want the tomatoes wilted but not fully broken down into a sauce. When you reach that point, remove from heat and stir in the dill, letting the residual heat wilt it into the sofrito.

Once the chicken has rested, place a half chicken on a plate and spoon the tomato sofrito over the top. Finish with black pepper and a squeeze of lemon.