Roast Chicken, Bread Stuffing, and Braised Vegetables

  1. Making the sage bread stuffing:
  2. Turn the oven on to 225F.
  3. Spread the bread slices in a single layer on the oven rack, keeping them a little apart.
  4. Set the kitchen timer for 35 minutes.
  5. When the bell rings turn the slices over with tongs or a fork.
  6. Let the bread dry out 15 more minutes and then take a slice and break it in half If it is still soft in the middle, put it back and let the bread dry out 15 more minutes.
  7. Dry bread has much better taste and texture than fresh bread when it is baked in a stuffing.
  8. When the bread is completely dry, take it out of the oven and put it in a large bowl.
  9. Use your hands to break up the bread into lots of little pieces.
  10. Cut each of the 2 celery stalks lengthwise into 3 long pieces.
  11. Then cut these crosswise into small pieces.
  12. Put the chopped celery into a small bowl.
  13. Trim off the stem end of the onion and the fuzzy little roots.
  14. Peel off the papery outside skin.
  15. Cut the onion in half from the top, stem end to the bottom, root end.
  16. Put the onion halves on a cutting board, cut side down.
  17. Cut each half crosswise into about 8 slices, and then cut the slices into thirds so you end up with lots of small pieces.
  18. Put the chopped onion into the bowl with the celery.
  19. Set a medium-sized skillet on the stove burner and turn on the heat to medium-low.
  20. Put the 4 tablespoons butter into the skillet, and when it has melted a little, tilt the skilletup, down, and around, so the that the melted butter covers the bottom.
  21. Add the chopped celery and onion to the skillet, and stir them around with a big spoon, spreading them evenly around the skillet.
  22. Cook and stir for about 3 minutes, until the onion has softened a little.
  23. Test to see if it has softened by taking a few pieces of onion out with the spoon, letting them cool a minute, and tasting to see if the onion has lost its crispness.
  24. If it hasnt, keep cooking and stirring and test again in 2 minutes.
  25. When the celery and onion have cooked, add them to the bowl of bread pieces.
  26. Add the 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and the dried 1 1/2 teaspoons or 1 tablespoon fresh sage.
  27. If youre using dried sage, taste a little pinch of it, and if it doesnt much flavor, add an extra teaspoon.
  28. Mix the stuffing with your hands, reaching to the bottom of the bowl and tossing, so all the flavors mingle with the bread.
  29. Drizzle the 1/2 cup broth or water over the stuffing.
  30. Toss and mix the stuffing lightly with your hands again, until all the ingredients are moist and well mixed.
  31. The stuffing should not be wet, just softened and damp.
  32. Taste and add a little more salt, pepper, or sage, if needed.
  33. Preparing the chicken:
  34. Turn the oven on to 425F.
  35. Make sure the oven rack is in the middle of the oven.
  36. Wash the chicken halves under cold running water.
  37. Pat them dry with paper towels.
  38. You need a baking pan or an ovenproof baking dish large enough for the 2 chicken halves to sit side by side without crowding.
  39. Grease the pan with a little vegetable shortening.
  40. Divide the stuffing in half.
  41. Make 2 rounded mounds of stuffing at either end of the baking dish.
  42. Salt and pepper the skin of each chicken half.
  43. Put each half on top of a mound of stuffing.
  44. Set aside while you prepare the vegetables.
  45. Preparing the vegetables:
  46. Slice off the stem top and root tip of the 4 carrots.
  47. Hold each carrot by its thick top with one hand and with the other, hold a vegetable peeler.
  48. Slide the peeler down from the top where you are holding the carrot to the bottom digging in just enough to remove the peel.
  49. Turn the carrot and repeat until the whole carrot is peeled.
  50. Cut each carrot into 4 pieces and put them into an ovenproof casserole dish with a lid.
  51. Trim, peel, and cut the 2 onions in half the way you did to the onion for the stuffing.
  52. Then cut each onion half in two crosswise, so you end up with 8 pieces of onion.
  53. Add the onions to the carrots in the casserole.
  54. Wash the 8 small potatoes and dry with paper towels.
  55. Dont peel them.
  56. If they are larger than a golf ball, cut them in half.
  57. Add them to the casserole with the onions and carrots.
  58. Put the 3 tablespoons butter and 1/4 cup water into a small saucepan and turn the heat on to medium.
  59. Stir while the butter melts and mixes with the water.
  60. As soon as the butter and water are blended, remove from the heat, and pour the liquid over the vegetables in the casserole.
  61. Lightly salt and pepper the vegetables.
  62. Stir the vegetables with a large spoon so every vegetable is coated with the butter and water mixture.
  63. Put the lid on the casserole.
  64. Put the chicken and the vegetables in the oven at the same time.
  65. If you have to, place the vegetable casserole behind the chickenbut both should be on the middle rack.
  66. Set the timer for 45 minutes.
  67. When the bell rings, using pot holders, take the chicken dish from the oven and put it on the stove top.
  68. With the tip of a small paring knife, cut into a chicken leg at the joint between the drumstick and the thigh, cut into a chicken leg at the joint between the drumstick and the thigh.
  69. If the juices are clear, the chicken is done.
  70. If the juices are pink or red, put the dish back into the oven and cook 15 minutes more.
  71. When the chicken is done, care fully take the pan out of the oven with pot holder and put it on the stove top or another heat-proof surface.
  72. The stuffing around the edges of the chicken will be crisp and dark brown; the stuffing under the chicken will be moist and soft.
  73. Take out the vegetable dish with pot holders and put it nearby.
  74. With your serrated knife, cut each chicken half in two, cutting between the leg and the wing to make 4 portions.
  75. Dish up a portion of chicken, stuffing, and vegetables on each plate, and serve.

white bread, stalks celery, onion, butter, salt, black pepper, sage, chicken broth, chicken, vegetable shortening for greasing, salt, carrots, onions, red potatoes, butter, water, salt, kitchen, knife, cutting board, skillet, spoon, measuring spoons, measuring cups, baking pan, vegetable peeler, vegetables, saucepan, holders

Taken from www.cookstr.com/recipes/roast-chicken-bread-stuffing-and-braised-vegetables (may not work)

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