As many of us find ourselves cooking at home instead of dining out, we’re sharing recipes from some of Toronto’s top chefs and restaurants.
“This recipe is a fan-favourite here at Montecito with the perfect balance of fresh and satisfying,” says executive chef Guillermo Herbertson. “And while the salsa verde in this recipe is being used alongside our succulent chicken recipe, it’s a fantastic staple to keep in the fridge to top with fish, eggs, tacos and anything else that requires some extra flavour.”
Montecito’s chicken with salsa verde
Ingredients
- half a chicken, de-boned
- 30g parsley (roughly 1 leaf is about .25 grams)
- 6g tarragon (roughly 1 leaf is about .25 grams)
- 6g mint (roughly 1 leaf is about .25 grams)
- 4g capers
- 5g raw garlic
- 1 pc lemon
- 100g extra virgin olive oil
- Maldon salt or sea salt, to taste
- toasted black pepper, to taste
- 10g jalapeno
- 10g anchovies (canned or white)
- 5g sherry vinegar
Method
1. Sprinkle some salt on chicken and let sit for 10-15 minutes while you prepare the salsa verde.
2. Gather all the herbs (parsley, tarragon, mint) pick the leaves and gather them together.
3. Chop finely all the herbs, place in a mixing bowl.
4. Super fine dice capers, jalapeno and anchovies and place in mixing bowl.
5. Use a zester (most common zester is by Microplane) zest the lemon and garlic in to the mixing bowl.
6. Add oil and vinegar together and mix well, adjust seasoning with salt and cracked toasted black pepper.
7. Chill in fridge to allow all ingredients to aromatize into the oil.
8. Rinse chicken from an excess amount of salt or moisture with a damp cloth, and re-season with black pepper and salt.
9. Pre-heat oven at 325 degrees fahrenheit.
10. Pre-heat a frying pan to medium-high temperature.
11. Skin side down place half chicken that has been “slightly curing”.
12. Allow chicken skin to slowly crisp up and become golden brown.
13. Place pan and chicken, skin side down in oven for 12 minutes.
14. Remove pan from the oven, and check the crisp of the chicken skin, if the skin is still soft, place over the burner at a medium to high heat and allow for the skin to caramelize and crisp up.
15. Once the skin is crispy, flip the chicken and some oil and aromatics of salsa verde into the pan and place in the over for 5-10 minutes
16. Remove from the oven and chicken should be about 95% cooked, add more salsa verde and allow to rest for 8 minutes.
17. Place chicken on a cutting board and slice.
18. Add more salsa verde to garnish and sprinkle some Maldon salt for more flavour.