Recipe: Embrace Butter With Ottolenghi’s Simple Chicken and Cabbage Roast

Yotam Ottolenghi’s reverence for vegetables is evidenced across his many phenomenal cookbooks, from the pro-level Asian recipes in Nopi to the hearty future-classics in Comfort. 

But every now and then, the culinary superstar will unleash an all-time chicken recipe. Consider this brand new one from Simple Too. The follow-up to his 2018 best-seller Simple features 135 easy recipes you can whip up in around 30 minutes, cook in one pot or prep ahead. This one’s as simple and flavourful as it gets thanks to one everyday ingredient.

“There are many ways to make cabbage delicious but it's hard to improve on butter,” Ottolenghi writes. “The result of adding nearly half a pack to the baking tray is the equivalent of liquid gold. Embrace it!” 

Chef also wants you to embrace spatchcocking (also known as butterflying) your bird. By removing the backbone and flattening the carcass, you create an even surface for a superior cook. “You can either ask your butcher to do it for you or look online for tips. It takes less than five minutes and the time is more than made up for by how quickly and evenly the chicken then roasts.” 

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Ottolenghi’s roast chicken and cabbage with soy butter

Serves 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

2 hispi cabbages, quartered (1kg)
2 heads of garlic, top 1cm removed
2 bunches spring onions, cut into thirds (160g)
325ml chicken stock
70g ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 whole chicken, spatchcocked (1.7kg)
1 tsp salt
1½ tsp white pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
100g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
2 tbsp soy sauce
Fine sea salt and white pepper, to season

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Put the cabbage, garlic, spring onions, stock and ginger in a high-sided roasting tray. Season the chicken all over with 1 tsp of salt and 1½ tsp of white pepper and sit it on top of the cabbage. Drizzle the chicken with the oil and roast for 30 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the oven and stir the butter and soy sauce into the tray juices until melted, then use the mixture to baste the cabbage. Return to the oven for another 15 minutes, until the chicken is golden and cooked through and the cabbage is tender and caramelised.

Squeeze out the garlic cloves, mix into the sauce and serve with plenty of steamed rice.

This is an edited extract from Ottolenghi Simple Too by Yotam Ottolenghi and Verena Lochmuller. Published by Ebury Press (RRP $69.99) with photography by Jonathan Lovekin.