Roast Chicken With Stuffing As A Treat On Labour Day

Our first ever roasted chicken was cooked in Durham. Back then, the oven was humongous; the need to roast food in it was hence compulsive and irresistible. That was how we celebrated Christmas in a snow-capped land. This has since become a lingering memory that will always bring back the sweet yearning for life abroad.

Ingredients:

  • Butter: 3 tbsp
  • White onion: 1, large, finely chopped
  • Curly English parsley: 1 stalk, chopped
  • Shitake mushroom: 7, chopped
  • Raw sausage meat: 400g, skin removed
  • Salt: 1 tsp
  • Ground blackpepper: to taste
  • Whole chicken (about 1kg): cleaned out, head and claws removed
  • Lemon: 1, pricked with fork and microwaved for 40 seconds
  • Fresh thyme: 1 bunch

Method:

  1. Heat butter in wok. Fry onions on low heat for 3 min.
  2. Add parsley, mushrooms and sausage meat. Stir well.
  3. Add salt and pepper. Stir well, then remove from heat and set aside.
  4. Spoon cooked mixture into the chicken cavity when cooled.
  5. Stuff microwaved lemon and thymes into cavity to seal up the hole.
  6. Tie the hind legs together with a string to secure the stuffing.
  7. Rub salt and remaining butter over chicken.
  8. Preheat oven at 210 degrees. Roast for 45 min.
  9. Brush some honey over chicken and baste with juice from tray.
  10. Reduce heat to 180 degrees. Continue roasting for another 45min.
  11. Remove from oven and leave to set for 15min before serving.

Tricks:

  • Basting the chicken frequently during the roasting process helps to keep the skin moist and juicy.
  • The microwaved lemon trick was one that I learnt from Jamie Oliver. It works great – not only did the lemon exude an irresistible fragrance, my microwave smelt fresh and clean after that too!
  • Keep the ‘juice’ remaining in the tray – which are, really, just chicken fats – in a bottle for use next time. Scooping a spoonful of it to cook your rice, stew or soup would help enhance their flavours by loads!

Serving:
3 – 4 persons as side dish

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