Stuff Chicken [Recipe/Pictures]

LTH,

Stopped at Lincolnwood Produce on the the way home, wanted to make something for dinner, not really sure what, but was feeling less than inspired. Left with only a 4-lb Purdue, oranges and a bag of grapes, roast chicken is always a good fallback. Right next to Lincolnwood Produce is a Dollar type store, lots of disposable aluminum cooking pans for less than a dollar, feeling lazy I stopped in and bought a chicken size pan for .89c, cook chicken, eat, toss pan. How much easier can it get?*

Not wanting to get a roasting rack messy I rooted around the counter and through the veg drawer and made a bed of carrot, onion, potato, celery, garlic. Then I started getting carried away, orange, lemon, red pepper, pretty much anything that fell within reach, including grapes. Made a little paste of olive oil, crushed Mexican peppers, black pepper and sea salt, coated everything up good and then stuffed as much of the mixture, including grapes, into the chicken.

The Stuff Chicken turned out pretty well, as did the pan gravy, nice dinner with a salad and some flat bread, but, then again, it's hard to screw up roast chicken. Far as the roasted grapes go, I loved them, my wife was not so appreciative.

Stuff Chicken






Dinner probably cost around $10, even with the disposable pan, and there are lots of leftovers. Stuff Chicken, highly recommended.

Oh, right, I promised a recipe in the subject line, here it is........ Buy a chicken, stuff with whatever is on hand, cook until done.

Enjoy,
Gary

*In general I'm against using disposable pans for everyday use, it's wasteful, not good for roasting, bad for making gravy in the pan, too flimsy leading to spills, and just generally sloth like, not unlike eating off paper plates at home.

Lincolnwood Produce
7175 N Lincoln Ave
Lincolnwood, IL 60712

Inspiring. Really.

Did the grapes absorb any chicken-y taste, I wonder?

Hammond

David Hammond wrote:Did the grapes absorb any chicken-y taste, I wonder?

Hammond,

No transfer of chicken flavor to the grapes, though the grapes lent a subtle sweet tone to the gravy.

Enjoy,
Gary

Gary, I used to do almost exactly that recipe using Cornish hens for Thanksgiving back when I was single. Grapes, veggies, orange and chicken are an excellent combo - did you make a pan gravy from the drippings? I found the grape-y flavor made a very rich and satisfying gravy.

Good reminder. Have to do that soon.

Mhays wrote:did you make a pan gravy from the drippings? I found the grape-y flavor made a very rich and satisfying gravy.

Mhays,

Yes, I made gravy, turned out very nice, with the grapes lending a subtle sweet tone.

'Stuff' Cornish Hen sounds delicious.

Enjoy,
Gary

Stuff Chicken revisited

4.5-lb roaster on a bed of onion, garlic, carrot, diced turnip, whole potato on the side.

I love chicken.

2.23.07

Gary,
I love your Le Creuset pot! I couldn't tell in the picture, but does yours have a rounded bottom with sloped sides or a flat bottom and more boxy? It looks like my Le Creuset pot (sloped sids and same colour too!), which I can't seem to find anymore in stores. But it's basically a very large soup pot, but I use it for everything. I made curry in it tonight.

By the way, the Stuff Chicken looks great and I'm assuming you also made the chicken in the cast iron pot and threw it in the oven.

Sharona

Sharona wrote:I love your Le Creuset pot! I couldn't tell in the picture, but does yours have a rounded bottom with sloped sides or a flat bottom and more boxy?

Sharona,

Sloped sides. I'm pretty sure it's a Buffet Casserole and is fairly shallow, at least compared to a soup pot. Works quite well for roasting.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:Far as the roasted grapes go, I loved them, my wife was not so appreciative.

Guess my wife just doesn't like cooked grapes as I made a batch of pancakes this morning with grapes instead of bananas or other fruit.

Simple, just whipped up pancake batter, cut a few grapes in half, put them cut side down on a lightly greased non stick pan, gently poured batter on top of grapes. Flip, plate, eat.

She didn't pick the grapes out, but she did ask, with bananas sitting on the counter, why in the name of Carol Channing's ghost would I use grapes.

Enjoy,
Gary

Glad to see that this one has its wings are tucked under and its legs are trussed. It makes a juicy chicken. And anything in Le Creuset tastes better!

Gary,

If you use those "el cheapo" pans for another bird, make sure that you have a cookie sheet or another pan underneath. A lot of those roasting pans leak which make them hazardous as you remove theme from teh oven.

kiplog wrote:Glad to see that this one has its wings are tucked under and its legs are trussed. It makes a juicy chicken.

Kiplog,

I truss poultry about half the time, the rest of the time I employ a trick I learned from a BBQ guy of breaking the leg joint out from the thigh joint. This allows even heat access to the thigh meat and helps, though does not insure, breast and thigh cook on the same timetable.

Enjoy,
Gary

Why stuff chicken and not stuffed chicken?

imsscott wrote:Why stuff chicken and not stuffed chicken?

Pondering your question has slid me into a deep metaphysical funk.

G Wiv wrote:Pondering your question has slid me into a deep metaphysical funk.

Why blue and not the ususal black type?

stevez wrote:Why blue and not the ususal black type?

Blue is the color of metaphysical funk.

Stuffing is Evil!

LTH,

Though Spatchcock not Stuff, I thought I put this beauty of a Farmer's Market bird in this thread. Purchased almost as an afterthought while buying eggs from Country Cottage Farm Saturday at Green City Farmer's Market, this was one of the better, if not best, flavored birds I've had in years.



Slightly dense flesh, hint of game, at least compared to big-box grocery store fowl-fodder, rich, depth of flavor a real honest to god Chicken as opposed to profit maximized processed poultry.

High roast skin side down for 15-minutes, flip and finish at 400° with scatter of garlic under the bird. Quick, easy, little in the way of cleanup.





Enjoy,
Gary

slightly related - I have that Le Creuset Buffet Casserole and I use it constantly. it's become one of my favorite cooking vessels. I plan to make a clafoutis in it tonight.

G Wiv wrote:

Up to 6% retained water? That seems excessive for a non-Jewel/Dominick's bought chicken. Unusual or no?

Jay K wrote:Up to 6% retained water? That seems excessive for a non-Jewel/Dominick's bought chicken. Unusual or no?

Jay,

As there is no mention of salt or phosphate I think it's benign and has to do with the freezing process. The chicken was frozen when I bought it at Green City on Saturday.

Enjoy,
Gary

Those roasting juices on the platter put me in mind of the lemon roast chicken served on a bed of french fries at Athenian Room on Webster. Lemony chicken juice-soaked fries: Reason # 457 why I miss Chicago. Great looking bird, G.

CoolerbytheLake wrote:Those roasting juices on the platter put me in mind of the lemon roast chicken served on a bed of french fries at Athenian Room on Webster. Lemony chicken juice-soaked fries: Reason # 457 why I miss Chicago. Great looking bird, G.

Lemon, he slaps his forehead, should have added a little squeeze of lemon to the finished bird for flavor enhancement.

Think I'll hit Green City tomorrow (Saturday) for a Country Cottage chicken or two.

Speaking of the Athenian Room, it's been years since I've been, always liked the gyros and, of course, lemon roast chicken. Thanks for the reminder.

Enjoy,
Gary

.
Is it wrong of me to find simple roast chicken incredibly alluring?

Kosher chicken, kishka and veg


Kosher chicken and kishka from Romanian Kosher.

Romanian Kosher Sausage Company
7200 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60626
773-761-4141

Now that's what I'm talkin about. Heaven on a plate. Romanian rules.

There are not many foods that are better than a well roasted, flavorful chicken.

I just made a roast chicken last week, and now I already want another, because, the last one wasn't stuffed you see.

I too got the itch to roast a chicken after reading these posts. It turned out yummie! Thanks!

Also roasting chicken tonight. Smells GREAT