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Matty matheson’s chicken diavolo

I don’t know how this Chicken Diavolo recipe slipped past me but someone recommended it to me and after watching Matty’s YouTube of the recipe, I immediately knew I had to try it. A few things drew me in, the first thing was the crispy golden chicken skin. The second was the pepper sauce. For this recipe, you need a spatchcock chicken, this way the entire surface area of the chicken can achieve that beautiful crisp golden skin. You also need something heavy to weigh the chicken down. Matty uses an actual brick wrapped in tinfoil. I didn’t have a brick laying around so I used the next best thing, which was a heavy cast iron pan and it worked great! This recipe requires a cast iron pan to cook the actual chicken in. The thing I love about cooking with cast iron pans is that they can cook pretty much everything. They hold heat extremely well, and they’re non stick once you begin to season them. They’re also non toxic! Anyways, back to the chicken. The chicken is heavily seasoned with salt and it doesn’t require much more effort than that because the cast iron pan will do all the work.

The pepper sauce uses a variety of peppers and in my opinion, truly makes the chicken shine. The sauce is a little spicy, sweet, and has the perfect amount of acidity from the pickled cherry bomb peppers and lemon juice. You also get a nice pop of flavour from the Pimenta de bico peppers which are my favourite! The sauce is finished with butter which makes it glossy and luscious.

I honestly can’t recommend this chicken enough and it’s going to be a recipe that I will go back to time and time again.

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matty matheson’s chicken diavolo

Ingredients

• 1 chicken, spatchcocked (spine and ribs removed)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1lb mixed hot and sweet peppers. I used 4 sweet peppers, 2 Anaheim’s, 1 jalapeño, and 4 chilli peppers. Matty’s recipe calls for (Jalapeno, Jimmy Nardello, Anaheims, Habanadas)
• 2 medium sized white onions
• 4 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 tb dried chile flakes
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2-3 cups homemade chicken stock – to cover
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2-4 Pickled Cherry bomb peppers, torn apart
• 1⁄2 cup Pimenta de bico
• 1 cup parsley, chopped roughly
• Juice of one lemon
• Salt Pepper to season

Equipment

• 1 large cast iron pan + one more to weigh down the chicken. You can also use a brick wrapped in tin foil
• 1 large stainless steel pan

Directions

1. Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel and season generously with salt.
2. Heat up the cast iron pan on medium high heat, add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Place the chicken in the pan, skin side down and allow to start sizzling.
3. Once sizzling, take another cast iron pan and place on top of the chicken and allow to cook until it is about 90% cooked before you flip it over to finish. This will take about 40 minutes. I turned the pan every 10 minutes or so to ensure that the chicken was browning evenly.
4. Cut the onions into rings. Slice the peppers into long strips and cut the jalepeno into rounds. Leave the smaller peppers whole. In a separate large pan, warm up some olive oil on medium high heat. Once the pan is hot, add the onions and cook for a few minutes until some colours develops. Add the peppers and cook for 5-10 minutes until they begin to soften. Add the crushed garlic and season with salt. Once the peppers have slightly softened, add chilli flakes and smoked paprika. Stir thoroughly.
5. Add enough chicken stock to the pan to cover all of the peppers, about three cups. Add about two-four pickled cherry bomb peppers, torn apart, and half a cup of pimenta de pica. Let this reduce to a thick sauce. This should take about 30 minutes. Then turn off the heat and add the juice of one lemon for acidity and 2 tbsp butter. Stir through then add a cup of freshly chopped parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. While the pepper sauce is cooking, take a look at the chicken skin. Once the skin of your chicken is golden and crispy, flip the chicken and turn off the heat to allow the residual heat to cook through the rest of the chicken.
7. Add the Diavolo sauce to a large platter and carefully add the chicken on top, skin side up. Spoon more of the sauce on top of the chicken and garnish with fresh parsley. Serve with a side of orzo tossed in butter, partigiano and freshly cracked pepper.

Notes

1. This chicken pairs well with a side of orzo tossed in butter, Parmigiano, and freshly cracked pepper.
2. Turn the cast iron pan every 10 minutes or so throughout the 40 minutes to ensure that the chicken cooks evenly.