Chicken under a Brick with Rapini

Butterfly the chicken by cutting out the back with kitchen shears. Lay the chicken on a clean work surface, skin-side down. Using your fingers, free the bone that separates the two breasts. Lift the bone out and discard it.

Coarsely chop sage and rosemary. Using your fingers, gently loosen the chicken skin from the breasts; Rub salt and pepper and a little of the chopped herbs onto the breasts, under the skin.

Slice the peel from the lemon and cut it into large pieces; reserve the peeled lemon. Scatter about a half of the chopped herbs and lemon on a large piece of plastic wrap. Add about a third of the sliced garlic. Lay the chicken, skin-side down, on the herbs and seasonings. Scatter the remaining herbs and lemon and about half of the remaining garlic (the rest will be used to flavor the rapini) over the chicken. Season the exposed side of the bird with salt and pepper, then season with a little olive oil. Wrap the chicken in the plastic and allow it to marinate for at least an hour, but better yet over night.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Unwrap the chicken and pick off the herbs and pieces of lemon peel. Season the skin side well with salt and pepper.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Place the chicken in the skillet, skin-side down. Flatten it with a heavy weight, a brick wrapped in tin foil works perfectly. Cook the chicken until the skin begins to color, about 45 seconds. Transfer the chicken to the oven and continue cooking until the thigh juices run clear, begin checking after 25 minutes but expect the chicken to take about 10 minutes longer. Remove the chicken from the pan and allow it to rest in a warm place for about 5 minutes. Reserve the skillet with the pan juices.

While the chicken is cooking blanch the rapini in boiling salted water for about 3 minutes, then drain. When the chicken is done and resting, heat the pan juices on the stove over medium high heat. Add the reserved garlic to the pan and cook until it is fragrant and beginning to color, about 2 minutes. Add the blanched rapini and cook, turning it in the pan juices, until it is tender, about 2 minutes. Season the rapini with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice then transfer it to a serving dish. Serve the chicken over the rapini.