Pollo fra diavolo

The devilled effect in this tasty Italian dish is achieved by adding lots of coarsely cracked black pepper and a good dousing of lemon juice. You’ll get the best flavour by cooking the birds on a charcoal barbecue: it gives them a wonderful caramelised, smoky flavour. It was when I was in Italy a few years ago, that I first saw birds being barbecued under bricks. I was told it helped to cook them evenly. It’s clever and it works, but if you haven’t got any bricks or a barbecue, don’t panic.