Roast Chicken with Apricot and Pistachio Stuffing Recipe

Roast chicken, stuffing and gravy.

This moist and tender roast chicken contains a bread and rice based stuffing that is flavoured with dried apricots, bacon and pistachio nuts.

Instructions for making fresh breadcrumbs are included below, but if you have some already made, you will need 60 grams of coarse crumbs (1 cup, lightly packed). We use a chewy, country-style bread for the breadcrumbs.

We roast our chicken for about 30 minutes per 500g.

We use a 20ml tablespoon and 250ml measuring cup for all of our recipes.

1.5kg fresh or thawed chicken
2 teaspoons (10ml) oil
Salt and pepper

Garlic Butter
50g butter, softened
3 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 teaspoon finely chopped parsley (or another herb of your choice)

Stuffing
1 teaspoon (5ml) oil
50g finely chopped onion (about 1/2 small onion)
50g lean bacon, finely chopped
60g day-old bread with crust removed (we use pane di casa bread)
35g (1/4 cup) chopped dried apricots
35g (1/4 cup) chopped roasted pistachio nuts (salted or unsalted)
70g (1/2 cup) cooked rice (we use long grain white rice)
1 large egg (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)
1 tablespoon (4g) finely chopped parsley
Salt and pepper, to taste (if using salted pistachios, you may not need to add salt)

To begin making the stuffing, heat one teaspoon of oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5-6 minutes, or until lightly browned. Set aside to cool for about five minutes.

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius (170 degrees Celsius fan-forced).

In a small bowl, stir butter, crushed garlic and parsley together until well combined. Set garlic butter aside until required.

Cut or tear bread into small chunks and place in a food processor. Pulse or process to produce coarse crumbs. Transfer breadcrumbs to a large bowl. Add the dried apricots, pistachios, cooked rice, egg, one tablespoon parsley, salt, pepper and cooled onion and bacon mixture to the bowl with the breadcrumbs. © exclusivelyfood.com.au

Stir stuffing ingredients together until well combined. Set stuffing aside until required.

Rinse inside and outside of chicken with cold running water. Pat skin dry with paper towels.

Loosen the skin on the breast and leg area of the chicken by sliding fingers under the skin. Try not to break the skin as this will allow the garlic butter to escape more easily during cooking.

Place pieces of garlic butter under the skin of the breast and legs.

Using your fingers, rub gently on the outside of the skin to distribute the butter over the breast and leg area.

Using your hand or a spoon, fill the chicken cavity with the stuffing mixture. Tie chicken legs together with kitchen string. Rub chicken with two teaspoons of oil, and season with salt and pepper.

Place chicken breast side up in a roasting tray and tuck wings under chicken.

Roast for 30 minutes, and then turn chicken over. Roast for another 30 minutes, and then turn chicken onto its back to allow the breast skin to brown. Roast for a final 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. A couple of times during the final 30 minutes of cooking, spoon some of the liquid from the pan over the chicken.

To test that the chicken is cooked, insert a skewer or sharp knife deep into the thigh of the chicken. The juice that runs out should be clear. If it is pink, return the chicken to the oven and retest after 5-10 minutes.

Remove chicken from the oven, cover loosely with aluminium foil, and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Remove string before serving.

Store any leftover chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator. © www.exclusivelyfood.com.au