Maple miso butter braise-roast chicken

This is my all time favorite way to roast a whole butterflied chicken. It combines the method of braising and roasting so that the result is browned chicken with an ultra juicy sauce.

It’s very straight forward and simple. Firstly, make the maple miso butter and rub it all over the chicken. Sear it on both sides before adding the cooking liquid. Add aromats like shallot, garlic, sage and lemon before placing into the oven uncovered.

The chicken browns into a beautiful deep golden brown crispy skin whilst contributing the maple miso butter drippings to the sauce.

Pair with roasted root vegetables like dutch carrots, parsnip, japanese sweet potato and classic roast potatoes. Spoon over the sauce and enjoy.

Ingredients:

70g butter, unsalted, room temperature

2 tbsp white miso paste

2 tbsp maple syrup

1 whole butterflied/spatchcocked chicken, about 1.5 kg, 3.3 lbs

few big pinches of salt and ground black pepper

2 shallots, sliced into rounds

1/2 a lemon, sliced

handful of fresh sage

5 garlic cloves, smashed

1 cup orange wine, or white wine

1 cup chicken stock or bone broth

Method:

Make maple miso butter: combine maple syrup, miso paste and softened butter in a small bowl and mash until combined. Set aside. Preheat oven to 200C/390F.

Season chicken: pat chicken with a paper towel all over. Sprinkle salt and pepper generously all over both sides of the chicken and pat it onto the skin all over. Pat maple miso butter all over the chicken, doing your best to press it on, it will slip off in certain places which is okay, just press on as much as you can, as evenly as you can.

Sear the chicken: bring a large skillet or oven safe fry pan over medium-high heat. Once it’s hot, add the chicken skin side down and sear for 2-3 minutes. Flip once the skin is dark golden and sear on the other side. Once that side is seared, add the aromats.

Add aromats: scatter shallots, lemon, sage and garlic cloves around the chicken.

Add cooking liquid: pour in orange wine and chicken stock around the chicken, trying not to pour directly on the chicken breast so that it can crisp in the oven.

Roast: leave uncovered and place onto the center rack in the oven. Roast for 45 mins-1 hour or until a thermometer reads 74C/165F through the breast. Halfway through roasting, remove from the oven and spoon over the cooking liquid all over the chicken. Place back into the oven to finish roasting. Once finished, the chicken should be a deep golden brown all over the top and sides.

Carve the chicken: by removing the legs (they should fall right off) and slicing breast in half.

Strain the sauce: pour the cooking liquid from the pan through a fine mesh strainer into a measuring glass or bowl to remove the solids from the liquid. Discard the solids. The liquid is now your sauce to spoon over the dish!

Serve: with roasted root vegetables such as dutch carrots, parsnip, potato and japanese sweet potato. Enjoy!