Grilled Chicken with Tarragon Butter
This chicken dish is simple yet flavorful, with delicious tarragon butter sauce.
Serves 6
Three 2½-lb. medium whole chickens
salt
freshly ground white pepper
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. fresh tarragon leaves, chopped
2 bunches watercress, stemmed
1. Quarter chickens to yield 6 legs attached to 6 boneless thighs and 6 boneless breast halves attached to wing bones, pounded cutlet style.
2. Sprinkle chickens lightly with salt and pepper. Place on grill or broiler with the skin side facing the heat. Cook for 8 minutes per side for thigh-leg pieces, until cooked through, but still moist and slightly pink at the bone.
3. Cook small breasts 4 to 5 minutes on the skin side, then flip and cook 1 to 2 minutes longer, until cooked through but still moist and pink at the bone.
4. For all the chicken, halfway through cooking on the skin sides, rotate 90 degrees to make crosshatched grill marks.
5. 1 or 2 minutes before the chicken is done, melt the butter in a small saucepan over moderate heat. Add tarragon leaves and season lightly with salt and pepper.
6. Arrange a clump of watercress in the center of each heated plate. Place a chicken thigh and leg portion and a breast at the bottom of each plate. Spoon some of the tarragon butter over the chicken.