A whole chicken is already one of the best buys at the counter. But when you pick one up at a discount on FoodHero, along with the end of a firm cheese and the bunch of thyme that were looking for a home, Sunday supper gets pretty hard to beat.

Spatchcocking just means removing the backbone and flattening the bird. The result: even cooking, crispy skin everywhere, and no more drama of dry breasts while the thighs finish up. Then you slide a butter loaded with cheese, garlic, lemon and herbs right under the skin. As it melts, it bastes the meat from the inside and perfumes everything it touches.

It's the kind of recipe that looks like a lot of effort, when really you just let the oven do the work. Twenty minutes of prep, an hour and a half in the oven, and leftovers that keep a week in the fridge or three months in the freezer. Savings, zero waste, and the smell of garlic butter through the whole house.

Spatchcock Chicken with Cheesy Herb Butter Under the Skin

Servings: 4
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 1 hr 30 min
Refrigeration: 7 days
Freezing: Freezes very well, 3 months

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken
• Canola oil
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Cheesy butter

• ½ cup butter, softened
• ¾ cup firm cheese (Mamirolle, Oka, etc.)
• Zest of 1 lemon
• About 10 sprigs of thyme, leaves picked
• 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F).
2. Using kitchen shears, remove the chicken's backbone. Turn the chicken breast side up and press down between the two breasts with your hands to flatten it. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and set aside.
3. In a bowl, combine all the cheesy butter ingredients. Gently loosen the skin from the chicken and spread the butter under the skin of the breasts and thighs. Brush the top with oil and season with salt.
4. Bake for 1 hour. Increase the oven temperature to 200°C (400°F) and cook about 30 minutes more, or until the skin is nicely crisp.

Recipe by Chloé Girard - Chef Coeur d'Artichaut