The Ultimate Chicken Sandwich Recipe

The Ultimate Chicken Sandwich Recipe

Ingredients

Makes 6

CHICKEN WITH 40 CLOVES OF GARLIC:

• one 4½lb (2kg) good-quality oven-ready chicken
• generous 1 cup (250ml) olive oil, plus extra for drizzling 40 garlic cloves or thereabouts (that’s about 4 whole bulbs), papery bits removed but not peeled 2 sprigs of fresh thyme (plus 2 extra sprigs :For the cavity) 2 bay leaves a couple of lemon slices
• sea salt and black pepper, to taste (and lots of it) :For the mayo and sandwiches:
• 2 large egg yolks
• leftover cooled oil from the roast chicken and garlic cloves above lemon juice, to taste
• 12 slices sourdough bread

Method

1. Curly endive or other bitter salad leaves, to serve To roast the chicken, first preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) Gas 5
2. Un-truss the chicken and remove al fat from the cavity (if you look just inside, there are two blobs, one on either side-cut them off)
3. Drizzle a little olive oil over the whole chicken and rub it in
4. Heat a large frying pan or skil et and use it to brown the chicken, whole, as best you can (it won’t be browning in the oven, as it wil be covered with aluminum foil)
5. Place the chicken in a roasting pan and surround it with the garlic cloves, then add the sprigs of thyme and the bay leaves
6. Stick the other thyme sprigs and the lemon slices inside the cavity
7. Pour the olive oil around the chicken- don’t be tempted to use less oil
8. Season the chicken very generously with salt and pepper, then cover with foil and seal it tightly
9. Roast in the oven for 1½-2 hours, until cooked, basting it 2-3 times during cooking
10. The chicken is cooked when you insert a skewer into the thickest part of the leg and, when pressed gently, the juices run clear
11. The legs wil also feel looser when the bird is cooked
12. Remove from the oven and rest the bird with its legs in the air, covered with the foil, for about 15-20 minutes
13. Once rested, let the chicken and garlic cool completely, then refrigerate untillyou are ready to make the sandwiches the roast chicken and garlic can, of course, be served hot, and then any leftovers can be used to make fewer sandwiches, if you prefer
14. The garlic-infused oil should be strained and then left to cool completely, before using it to make the mayo :For the sandwiches
15. Once the oil is cold, make your mayonnaise
16. Put the egg yolks in a clean bowl and whisk them together
17. Begin adding the garlic-infused oil a few drops at a time, whisking as you do so and making sure each bit of oil is fully incorporated before adding the next
18. As you whisk more oil in and the mayo starts to thicken, you can start adding the oil in slightly larger quantities untillyou are steadily adding it in a thin stream
19. The key with mayo is to be cautious with the oil untillyou get a feel for making it
20. If you add too much oil at once, the mixture wil split (if this happens, don’t despair; take a fresh egg yolk in a clean bowl and begin adding the split mixture into it, very slowly, just as if it were the oil-this should bring it back)
21. Stop when the mayo reaches the desired thickness
22. Add lemon juice and salt and pepper, to taste
23. To assemble the sandwiches, remove al the chicken meat from the carcass (discard the bones or use them to make broth/stock) and then chop the meat into smal dice
24. Mix the mayo with the diced chicken meat, then heap the mixture onto 6 slices of the bread
25. Spread the roast garlic flesh (squeezed out of the skins) on the other bread slices
26. Add some curly endive or other bitter salad leaves, tossed with a generous amount of lemon juice and salt and pepper
27. Sandwich together and serve

Full List of Chicken Recipes
Full List of Sandwich Recipes