Barefoot Bloggers-Butterflied Chicken

This Barefoot Bloggers pick for Butterflied Chicken is a great summer recipe. I served it with Ina's Panzanella and it was a nice light meal. The chicken was moist and succulent. The flavors of the herbs and lemon were infused throughout. This would be a great recipe for cooking chicken for chicken salad or just to add to a green salad. An easy, simple and classic recipe from Ina. Thanks to Stefany of Proceed with Caution for a perfect recipe for August. I did not butterfly the chicken per the recipe instructions. Rather, I purchased chicken breasts and used them instead. I accidentally grabbed the boneless, skinless and they worked fine.

Butterflied Chicken
Source: Ina Garten/Foodnetwork.com

1/4 cup chopped fresh rosemary leaves, plus 2 sprigs
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
Good olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 roasting chickens (2 1/2 to 3 pounds each), deboned and butterflied
1/2 lemon, thinly sliced

Mix the chopped rosemary, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper together in a small bowl to make a paste.

Place the chickens on a sheet pan, skin side up, and loosen the skin from the meat with your fingers. Place 1/2 of the paste under the skin of each chicken. Rub any remaining paste on the outside and underside of the chickens.

Turn the chicken skin side down and scatter the lemon slices and sprigs of rosemary over each chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Roll each chicken up, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Heat a grill with coals. Spread the coals out in 1 dense layer and brush the grill with oil. Unroll the chickens, place them on the grill and cook for 12 minutes on each side.