A few weeks ago, I taught a cooking class and made lunch at a friend’s home for nine beautiful ladies. It was interactive, light, open, and such a BLAST. I find genuine joy in teaching others the simplicity of good food. I’m a food purist, and find that if you can teach people the most basic of things, they are far better armed than with traditional “recipes”. I hope to do this full-time in a larger scale one day. I know I will; I think it’s where my true talent is. This is one of the dishes we made.

I love making whole chickens because they are simultaneously rustic and stunning. Although a whole chicken in the oven with salt is a fine meal, we decided to try out the brick method, which is essentially just searing the crap out of a spatchcocked chicken in a cast iron skillet with something heavy on top for about 10 minutes. It’s then finished in a hot oven. Done and easy.

Smoked paprika brick chicken

¼ cup smoked paprika

¼ cup garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon chili flakes

1-2 tablespoons kosher salt

1 (4-5 pound) whole chicken

1/4 cup ghee

Set oven at 375 degrees.

Spatchcock the chicken by laying it upside down on a cutting board, and cut out the backbone with kitchen shears or a very sharp knife. Flip it over, and pull the thighs forward so it lays flat. You may have to press down and crack a few bones. It’s okay, it’s easy. Look away if you need to.

In a small bowl, combine the smoked paprika, garlic, onion powder, cayenne pepper, chili flakes, and salt. Rub mixture all over chicken.

In a large cast iron skillet, heat the ghee over medium-high heat. Place chicken, skin side down, into cast iron skillet and cover with a foil-lined brick or heavy skillet. Cook for about 15-20 minutes, until the skin is golden brown.

Stick the cast iron skillet into the oven, and cook the chicken until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thigh registers 165 degrees, about 40 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before digging in.