- 2 chickens (about 3½ pounds each), cut into 8 pieces each (2 breasts, 2 legs, 2 thighs, and 2 wings), or 16 pieces total
- 1 cup chopped scallion, white and green parts
- ½ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- ½ cup sliced fresh chives
- ¼ cup chopped fresh tarragon
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh marjoram
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
- 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
- About ¼ cup olive oil, as needed, for browning the chicken
- 1 lemon, cut in half
- Trim excess fat from the chicken pieces. Rinse them under cold running water, pat dry with paper towels, and place them in a nonreactive pan.
- Combine the scallion, herbs, garlic, lemon zest, salt, and pepper in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth, gradually adding the oil last to emulsify. The marinade will be very thick, like a pesta. Pour the marinade over the chicken pieces and coat the pieces on both sides. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- To cook the chicken, preheat the oven to 450°F. Heat 2 large sauté pans over medium-high heat with about 2 tablespoons of oil in each pan. If you don’t have 2 large sauté pans, brown the chicken in batches.
- Remove the chicken from the marinade, reserving any excess marinade. Put the chicken pieces in the pans skin side down and sauté until the skin is nicely browned.
- Turn and brown the other side, adjusting the heat between medium and medium-high as necessary so you don’t burn the chicken. When the chicken pieces are browned on both sides, 8 to 10 minutes total for each piece, transfer them to a roasting pan.
- Squeeze the lemon halves over the chicken and throw the lemon halves into the pan. Scrape any extra marinade into the roasting pan. Put the roasting pan in the oven and roast until the chicken is cooked, the juices run clear, and the thigh meat reads 175°F on an instant-read thermometer, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven.
- Remove the chicken from the roasting pan and arrange on a platter. You can cut the chicken breasts in half first so your guests can choose both white and dark meat. Whisk the pan juices to break up any clumps of the marinade and drizzle a little over the chicken. Pour the rest of the pan juices into a gravy boat, discarding the lemon halves, and pass with the chicken.