Recipe LXIV - Sage & Onion Stuffing

One of the most special thing about roast dinners is the way the meat is seasoned. When it comes to birds, you can not go wrong with some stuffing. Now, whilst most people get it from the supermarket, actually making it at home yourself is easier (and cheaper [and tastier]) than what comes out of a packet. This is one of two recipes this week, to make up for lost time.

Ingredients:
2 slices of bread, preferably no longer fresh
1 egg
A cup of milk
1 onion, chopped
Some fresh sage
3 cloves of garlic
Ground black pepper
Salt



Instructions:
Cut up the onion into fine pieces.
TIP: to avoid your eyes being affected too much, many people have their own methods: in some parts of the Mediterranean, they cut onions on their heads. I favour sticking my tongue out - then my tongue bears the brunt of the odorous onion, leaving my eyes less affected.
Take the leaves of the sage, and fold them into a ball. With a knife or a pair of scissors, slice them up into small pieces.
Put the bread, egg and milk into a bowl and with a potato masher or fork, bind it into a smooth consistency. Then add the onion, sage, ground pepper and salt.



Mash well, until it is all nicely mixed in together.
Open the bird and fork the mixture inside. I favour leaving the bird open, as this allows the stuffing to slowly slide outwards, leaving a delicious crust.



Salt the skin of your bird, and baste it in oil. Put some butter on the leg area - this gives some crispiness to the skin on the legs. I sometimes put half-cloves of garlic under the skin, but with the stuffing inside, this is not necessary. Roast the bird for about 20 minutes per 500g, plus twenty minutes on top.



The photos of the result did not come out very well (dark!) but this was the best I could do:



The potatoes enjoyed bathing in the oil too...

Recipe IV - Roast Chicken, Home-Made Stuffing, Roast Potatoes & Vegetables

This is an enjoyable roast dinner you can eat outside in the spring sunshine.

Ingredients for the roasting tray:
One medium-sized chicken
Half a kilo of potatoes (red, only red!!!!)
Six cloves of garlic
Fresh rosemary, fresh thyme
Salt & pepper

Ingredients for the stuffing:
One- or two-day-old white bread, not quite stale
Two to three eggs
Maximum 300ml milk
One onion, cut into small pieces
Garlic (optional), pulped
Fresh herbs (sage, oregano or rosemary make good tasters)

Instructions for the stuffing:
Take a large bowl, break the bread into small pieces.
Take the eggs and break them into the bowl with the bread and gradually pour on the milk, using a potato masher to fold in the ingredients until the bread mixture takes on a moist but sturdy consistency. Add the herbs, garlic and pieces of onion. Continue to fold in, until all the ingredients are nicely consistent. This should not take very long at all.

Instructions for the chicken:
Put a large baking tray in the oven with sunflower oil and butter, or goose fat and put on the oven at 180°C. Cover the chicken skin in salt and pepper. Peel and halve the garlic cloves, force them under the skin of the chicken, an equal amount on each side. Feel free to put a sprig of fresh rosemary in there too.
Take the stuffing and put it inside the chicken. Put the chicken in the baking tray, baste the fat onto the chicken and roast for an hour. Then turn the heat down to +/- 150°C and leave it there for as long as you like to allow the juices to mix and the meat to tenderise.
I
nstructions for the roast potatoes (red - I prefer King Edwards):
Peel the potatoes, cut into pieces of approximately 3-5cm x 3-5cm. Parboil them for ten minutes.
Drain the excess water into a separate bowl (not down the sink!), wait for a couple of minutes while the potatoes steam-dry, then put them in the oven dish with the chicken. Baste the potatoes too, and re-baste the chicken.
If you time it just right, the potatoes and the chicken will come out of the oven together. If you make sure the larger sides of the potatoes are facing downwards, your potatoes should be crispy on the outside and fluffily soft in the middle.

Accompaniments:

• Chicken goes very well with many vegetables, but I favour steamed cabbage or cauliflower, both slightly undercooked, and peas to counter the heaviness of the potatoes.
• Take the excess fat from the baking tray, the leftover water from the vegetables and mix together to make a sauce. Put in a little white wine to pep it up a bit.
• As for wine, a Pinot Noir or Chardonnay would go excellently well. Chapel Down in Kent produces some excellent wines fitting such a meal.