Roast Chicken Stuffed With Breadcrumb Stuffing

The stuffing is under the skin!

Before DH and I made Aliyah, we came a few times on visits and my in-laws, of blessed memory, often were here with us. They had a few favorite places to go out to eat and one of them was an old fashioned Hungarian restaurant called Leah’s Rechavia. It was run by a lovely woman, yes, named Leah, who served all kinds of traditional Hungarian foods including roast goose, nuckerl and palatchinka, which my BIL Lenny loved but of all the things she served, my FIL, my hubby and I loved the stuffed chicken the best.

The trick to the stuffing here is that you are not stuffing a whole chicken, you are stuffing individual portions (she always did a quarter of a chicken, usually the leg- thigh and drumstick – since she turned the breast into shnitzel, of course).

This is less complicated than it sounds and is so worth the extra effort since the end result is a moist and luscious chicken that doesn’t dry out even when warmed up and is so good that no one snoots it as leftovers. Need I say more? Even DH, notoriously not fond of leftover chicken, asked me if I had any left. The answer was NO! It was all gone. And that’s what we hope for when we cook, isn’t it?

The stuffing is what you need to start with, so get out your veggies. A nice large onion, peeled and chopped, chopped celery, some chopped garlic and mushrooms

You sautee all the veggies together till lightly wilted and add a tablespoon of chicken soup powder (pareve or meat, doesn’t matter) and cook together briefly with a quarter cup of water. Stir well till combined. Put this mixture into a bowl.

Take a cup of breadcrumbs and add to the veggies

I use golden breadcrumbs for a little extra seasoning and the color. It’s basically paprika. Add a pinch of salt and slowly add half a cup of hot water (slowly so you can decide if you need all of it or not) and stir till it’s a loose paste like this:

Now this is the cool part. Take your cleaned and patted dry chicken and using a latex glove (or barehanded if you must) gently slide your finger between the skin of the chicken in the middle and pry loose. You don’t want the whole thing to open, you are making a pocket like so:

As you see, you leave the sides attached. Don’t worry, however, if in your vigor you pull too much. Since the filling is pasty, it should anyway stay put.

Next, take a spoonful of filling/stuffing

and gently push the stuffing into the pocket

Then you fold back down the flap you created.

Then either oil spray the tops of your chicken or (still with your gloves on) rub some oil on them and sprinkle with with a combo of granulated garlic powder, paprika, pinch of pepper, pinch of salt and if you like some tumeric powder for color. Rub lightly on chix.

Preheat oven to 375 and bake about one and a half hours, checking after an hour and 15 to make sure they aren’t overdone.

You will have a beautiful colored chicken with a mound in the middle, like a surprise inside. It’s truly a delicious change from your basic roast chicken and always a big hit.

Roast Chicken Stuffed With Breadcrumb Stuffing

1 large onion, peeled and chopped medium
2-3 tablespoons oil
2 stalks celery, washed and chopped
10-15 mushrooms, washed and dried and chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 rounded tablespoon chicken soup powder (pareve or meat)
1/4 cup water
1 cup golden breadcrumbs (or regular breadcrumbs and a teaspoon of paprika
1/2 cup hot water
6 nice sized chicken thighs and drumsticks, cleaned and patted dry
oil spray OR oil
paprika, garlic and onion powder, salt, pepper and tumeric if you wish

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Take the chopped onion and sautee in the oil till yellow. Add the celery and mushrooms, cook till wilted and add the garlic and cook briefly. Add the soup powder and a quarter cup of water, stir and cook for a minute or two.

Take a bowl and add the cooked veggie mixture to it. Add a cup of breadcrumbs and add the half a cup of hot water slowly till it forms a loose paste which you can easily mold. Add less water if you think it looks too much or more just till it looks like the pic above.

Take your clean chickens and using your fingers (in latex gloves) pry gently open a pocket between the skin and the chicken to make a space for the stuffing. (see above). Gently push the stuffing in and do this with all the chicken till the stuffing is used up. It will make a little mound in the chicken.

Put the chicken on a greased baking tray (with sides to catch the juices). Rub the chicken with the spray oil or regular oil and sprinkle with spices and rub lightly again. Place tray with chicken into preheated oven and bake one hour and another 15 minutes to 1/2 an hour depending on your oven. Peek at it after 1 hour and fifteen minutes.

This is excellent right off the pan or even warmed on a warmer or leftover. It stays juicy and moist and the stuffing is utterly delish. Enjoy!