Stuffed Chicken Thighs with Roasted Vegetables - Stuff it up!

April 3, 2008 at 2:29 am · Filed under Recipes: Greens, Recipes: Poultry

“Hey! Stop it! I’m really stuffed!!” This must be what the chicken thigh was telling me. Instead of making the usual roasted chicken, I added some stuffing to the chicken thigh. The idea struck me when I recalled having chicken ballotine at a café, chicken breast or thigh rolled with some vegetables inside.

There are 2 pots of edible herbs added to my ‘mini garden’, namely basil and lemon balm. Fresh basil comes in handy when I whip up pasta dishes which are regular meals in the house. Or simply just toss them together with my salad. I didn’t know why I chose to grow lemon balm. It’s from the mint family, not much of a mint smell, but very strong lemon scent. Rubbing the leaves sometimes makes me happy, although sometimes I thought I am inhaling Mama Lemon, the dish detergent! I figured I could use it for baking which I seldom do these days. Well, I can also chopped them up and toss with salad too, for an added zesty taste.

As these 2 pots of herbs starts to flourish, I was so eager to harvest them. So apart from stuffing sautéed diced mushrooms and carrots with the chicken thigh, I stuffed together some of my freshly harvested basil and lemon balm leaves. You can omit these 2 herbs totally, as I was just getting excited that I wanted to use them in anything I cook!

I should have gotten some kitchen twine to tie up the chicken thigh tight instead, I used toothpicks to stitch them up, which didn’t worked very well. As you can see from the photo, the stuffing were dropping out.

The chicken thighs didn’t look good after they were roasted as they were a bit dry on the outside and still slightly raw on the inside. I would probably lower the oven temperature and roast them longer if I were to make this again. Another thing I will try is to use a rolling pin and roll it over the chicken thigh. This might make them thinner and thus a larger surface for containing the stuffing. Or I would roast a whole chicken, with some rice stuffing as well. That would be really nice to have for a weekend dinner!

Stuffed Chicken Thighs with Roasted Vegetables
Serves 2

3 chicken thighs, deboned
30g butter
150g fresh shitake mushrooms, diced
1 small carrot, diced
2 big russet potatoes, cut into wedges
1 white onion, quartered
1 bulb garlic
4 baby corns
½ zucchini, cut into chunks
½ capsicum, cut into chunks
½ cup fresh basil leaves
½ cup lemon balm leaves
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (optional)
dried parsley
paprika
black ground pepper
salt

Rub chicken thighs with salt, black ground pepper and olive oil. Leave it aside.

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Heat pan with butter. Once butter starts to bubbles, Sauté chopped garlic till fragrant. Add mushrooms and carrots. Sauté them till the mushrooms are cooked. Add about 1 tsp of dried parsley and stir for another 30 secs. Set aside on a plate for cooling.

Toss potatoes with dried parsley, parprika, salt and black ground pepper. Seasoned to your own preference. Next, drizzle olive oil generously and toss evenly.

Toss baby corn, zucchini and capsicum with black ground pepper and olive oil. Drizzle balsamic vinegar over the vegetables and toss evenly. Adding balsamic vinegar is optional.

Next, place some stuffing on the chicken thigh and rolled it up. Tie it with kitchen twine to secure the stuffing. Else, probably use toothpicks like I did. Be careful when poking the toothpicks through the chicken.

Lastly, arrange the vegetables(tossed vegetables, onion and garlic) and potatoes nicely around the chicken thighs on a roasting tray. I like the potatoes to be at the outermost edge as they will get slightly burnt on the edges and still soft on the inside. Brush more olive oil on the chicken skin if you want to have crispy skin to munch on.

Place roasting tray into the oven and bake for approximately 30 to 40 minutes. Chicken is cooked when you insert a knife and the juices are clear.

Sounds tedious, but it isn’t really complicated. It’s easier to stuff everything into a whole chicken. I wish I can cook a whole chicken instead but there will be a lot of leftovers for just the 2 of us.

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A Roasting Chicken is a Simple Pleasure

August 5, 2007 at 2:43 am · Filed under Recipes: Greens, Recipes: Poultry

A year ago, when I decided to get an oven for my new house, I thought it would be nice to roast some food other than baking. Watching Jamie Oliver’s shows definitely finalize my decision in getting an oven. I love to watch him cook pasta (my favorite staple) and roast meats. And I go, wow, just those simple ingredients and I get a nice simple meal.

Roasting poultry is a fairly simple technique that yields crisp-skin, moist, flavorful flesh cooked in it’s own fats and juices. Preparing is simple. I used half a chicken, thus only squeeze some lemon juice over it. If you used a whole chicken, stuff the lemon into the cavity. Place a few slices of lemon around the chicken. You can vary the seasonings you use, trying different combinations of herbs or even asian spices and soya sauce. Other than stuffing rosemary into the chicken cavity, I stuff them under the skin as well. Rub some salt all over the chicken, and some pepper if you like. To achieve crispy skin, drizzle olive oil on the chicken before putting them into the oven.

I always roast the chicken with potatoes and vegetables like baby corn, zucchini, bell pepper, tomatoes, etc. Garlic goes into the oven too with skin on. Toss the vegetables with olive oil and ground black pepper. As for the potatoes, I like to toss them with olive oil, salt and paprika. The roasted potatoes turn out abit charred on the sides and I like them this way. Roasted vegetables are so delicious and they taste naturally sweet. If you are serving the chicken with bread, and coincidently also a garlic lover like me, mash up the roasted garlic with a fork and spread them on your bread or potatoes. Garlicky, I like!

A combination of high and low heat produces the best results. I begin roasting the chicken at 180°C and increase the oven temperature to 200°C in the last 10 mins of roasting.

Rosemary Roast Chicken with Lemon
1 chicken, rinsed and patted dry,
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons fresh rosemary sprigs (halved the amount if using dried rosemary)
1 garlic clove, lightly smashed
1 large lemon, washed
olive oil

Vegetables:
1 zucchini
1 bell pepper
8 baby corns
4 – 6 potatoes, peeled
cherry tomatoes, a handful
black ground pepper
olive oil
paprika

Method:

1. Heat oven to 180ºC. Rub chicken inside and out with salt, pepper and rosemary.
2. Stuff half a lemon inside the cavity. Place the chicken in a roasting pan, with the breast facing upwards. Squeeze some lemon juice over the chicken. Slice up the remaining lemon and place them on top and by the side of the chicken. Stuff some rosemary under the chicken skin.
3. Cut potatoes into chunks or wedges. Toss the potatoes with paprika and olive oil.
4. Julienne the zucchini and bell pepper. Halved the cherry tomatoes. Toss them with some black ground pepper and olive oil.
5. Arrange the potatoes, vegetables and garlic around the chicken.
6. Transfer the roasting pan into the oven and roast for about 30 to 40 mins, depending on your oven.
7. In the last 10 mins, up the oven heat to 200ºC.
8. To check if the chicken is cooked, simply insert a knife or fork into the thickest part, the thighs. When the juice runs clear, the chicken is cooked.
9. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and let the chicken cool down for about 10 mins before carving out the meat.

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