Chicken Under a Brick (Pollo al Mattone)
By Joe
Source: Serious Eats — Daniel Gritzer, Pollo al Mattone (Italian Roast Chicken Under a Brick).
A pollo al mattone (italian roast chicken under a brick) recipe for 4 servings, written from a single tested source, with times and temperatures kept as the source set them.
Based on the listed ingredients, none of the 14 major EU allergens. Always check product labels.
Method
- 1
Bake. Mix olive oil, lemon juice plus zest, red pepper flakes, rosemary, sage, plus garlic in a mid-sized bowl. Take out spine off chicken (reserve spine for stock or another use) using sharp kitchen shears or poultry shears. Flatten chicken by putting it skin side up on a cutting board plus applying firm pressure to the breastbone. Move to a baking dish, season all over using salt plus pepper, tip in marinade, plus rub all over chicken. Cover dish using plastic. Marinate, chilled, at least 30 minutes plus up to overnight. Heat oven, along using all cooking equipment for whichever setup you are using, including skillets, foil-covered bricks, chicken push, barbell weight, et cetera (see this "Special Equipment" section below for more info), to 245°C. Scrape marinade plus minced aromatics off chicken as best you can. Oil the inside of the bottom skillet/roasting vessel using cooking spray or oil. Lay chicken down in skillet, skin side upwards, arranging it so that it lies flat. Grease the bottom of the top weight using cooking spray or oil. (Depending upon your setup, this could be one side of this foil-wrapped bricks, or this bottom of the second skillet or chicken-push weight.) Press the top weight down upon the chicken, making sure it uniformly covers it plus is in contact using both the breast plus the legs. Move to oven and cook till thickest part of breast, close to bone, registers 65°C (66°C) on an instant-read thermometer, around 30 minutes. Take out chicken from oven, remove top weight, and leave to rest 5 to 10 minutes. Carve plus offer using lemon wedges, drizzling fresh olive oil over chicken at this table.
Storage
Keep covered in the fridge and use within a few days.
Why this label?
84.1 g protein for 1242 kcal = 6.8 g per 100 kcal, so protein gives about 27% of the energy. High protein needs at least 20% (5 g per 100 kcal), the condition in the Annex to EU Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. How we decide
EU nutrition claims
- Sugar-free: 0.1 g sugars per 100 g (limit ≤ 0.5 g)
- Low salt: 0.24 g salt per 100 g (limit ≤ 0.3 g)
Per 100 g of the finished dish, worked out from the nutrition per serving and the lowest likely cooked weight (about 334 g a serving), so the true values are, if anything, lower. Thresholds from the Annex to EU Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. How we decide
Free sugars
0.2 g per serving
0.4 % of the 50 g daily maximum · 0.8 % of the ideal 25 g
Free sugars under 50 g a day, ideally about 25 g, based on WHO free-sugar guidance (not endorsed by WHO). The share shown is the share of one serving. WHO
Equipment
- mixing bowl
- scales
- baking tin or tray
Nutrition per serving Calculated from USDA FoodData Central
| Per serving | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 1242 kcal |
| Protein | 84.1 g |
| Carbohydrate | 2.3 g |
| of which sugars | 0.2 g |
| of which free sugars | 0.2 g |
| Fat | 97.8 g |
| of which saturates | 23.6 g |
| Fibre | 0.5 g |
| Salt | 0.79 g |
Protein per 100 kcal
6.8 g meets High protein (≥ 5 g per 100 kcal = 20% of energy, and ≥ 10 g per serving)
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient values
