A Wednesday that tastes like Thursday

Some weeks ask for a small detour, and this is one of them. Our half spit-roasted halal chicken, the dish that usually waits patiently for Thursday, is moving forward by one day. On Wednesday 29 April, it will be turning slowly above the heat at lunchtime, golden and unhurried, as if the calendar had quietly looked the other way.

There is something honest about a chicken on a spit. It cannot be rushed. It cannot be faked. It asks for time, fire, a steady hand and a few good herbs, and in return it gives back skin that crackles under the knife, juices that pool gently on the plate, and meat so tender it slips from the bone with the slightest pull of a fork. This is food that does not need to explain itself. It belongs to a long tradition, one that runs through Italian family kitchens on Sundays, where the pollo allo spiedo sits at the centre of the table and the conversation slows to match its rhythm.

Our chicken is carefully sourced and halal, prepared with respect at every stage. The recipe is deliberately simple: a brush of olive oil, salt, pepper, a whisper of rosemary, the kind of seasoning a grandmother might have used without ever reaching for a measure. What does the real work is the spit itself. The slow turn, the fat that falls and bastes the bird on its way down, the heat that crisps the outside while keeping the inside generous and full of life.

You will find it as a half portion, served with crisp potatoes that have spent their afternoon catching the drippings. It is the lunch you take when you want to sit down properly, untie the day a little, and remember that a meal can still be a small ceremony. A reset in the middle of the week, a Sunday borrowed for a Wednesday.

So this week, come a day early. Bring an appetite, bring a little time, and let the spit do the rest.

Eccezionalmente di mercoledì, sempre come si deve.