Stuffed Chicken. Christmas special chicken roll

How to prepare a stuffed or rolled chicken. 

A typically Argentine dish , in its classic version, using beef, as good producers as they are.

The option of preparing this recipe with chicken is a different but just as tasty alternative. It is also a common dish in other Latin American countries such as Chile and Peru.

Stuffed chicken, chicken roll, chicken slaughter , there are many names for this recipe that consists of opening chicken meat like a griddle, filling it and forming a roll that will be cooked in the oven.

In Uruguay we will find the chicken pamplonas , in Spain they triumph at Christmas,  the convent pularda ,  the Gallo de Mos  or the famous  Capón de Villalba that we prepare in the Galician style. From the USA, the famous Thanksgiving stuffed turkey or the classic French meat Rôti .

It is about making a type of cold cut with the meat and its filling that will later be enjoyed cold. The usual thing is to serve it cold as a starter, either just with sauce or accompanied with a simple salad. I also recommend it as a sandwich, or sandwich for an informal dinner.

The ingredients of the filling are totally optional, we can also prepare it with a sauce of vegetables, cheese, minced meat, for this the necessary thing is imagination and scrutinize the fridge.

Preparing the chicken before starting the recipe

1. Macerate the raisins and dried apricots in the brandy for 1 hour.
2. We commission our butcher to debone the chicken, it takes practice and technique to make it yourself.
3. Already at home we eliminate the remains of fat that we can appreciate inside.
4. With the cord and the needle we proceed to sew the ends of the chicken in the area of ​​the ass and the head.
5. We have to get the chicken to be closed at the ends so that we have a surface like a rectangle to fill.
6. We put the meat of the legs inwards releasing it from its skin, the meat will remain inside what will be the future roll. We reserved the chicken.

Preparation of the chicken filling

1. We prepare the filling by mixing all the ingredients. On the one hand we wash and dry the mushrooms well, cut them into pieces and add them to a bowl.
2. Add to the bowl the bacon cut into thin strips, the chopped dried apricots and the raisins.
3. Peel and core the apple and add grated to the mixture. Add the thyme, salt and duck foie gras.
4. We remove all the ingredients well to form a paste.
5. We cook the two eggs and, once tempered, peel them and place them whole inside the chicken. Remember that the filling has to be warm or cold, let it rest.

We fill the chicken

1. Fill the chicken with the mixture that we have prepared and with the kitchen needle and cord. We sew it until closed as a package.
2. We tie the chicken around its perimeter with the kitchen cord to make sure it keeps its shape during baking. This will prevent the filling from coming out.

Baking and final presentation of stuffed chicken

1. We flour the chicken and brown it in a saucepan to toast the skin and seal it.
2. We transfer it to a baking tray and water it with the lemon juice, the brandy from the mash of the raisins and dried apricots and the glass of water.
3. Season with salt and pepper and place it in the oven previously heated to 200ºC for 2 hours.
4. The time will depend a little on the size of the chicken and the amount of filling that we have put on it. The ideal is to be pending from the time of baking.
5. We remove the chicken from the baking tray and cover it with aluminum foil until it is time to serve. We reserve.
6. To prepare the sauce we add a glass of water to the bottom of the tray with all the remains of the roast and scratching with a spatula we try to recover all the sauce that has stuck.
7. We strain the result, we reserve it. We make a sofrito with the mushrooms that we have left over from the filling and a small leek counted in pieces.
8. Add the sauce from the roast that we have reserved and let cook for 10 minutes. We add the cream and incorporate it well.
9. We pass the sauce through the mixer or through the Chinese and we would have it ready to serve.
10. We serve the chicken cut into slices of 1 or 2 cm. accompanied by part of the sauce.

Be sure to enjoy all the recipes that we offer you in the special Christmas recipes . You can see all the photos of the step by step in the next album.

Tips for a Stuffed Chicken

• Although the process of this recipe is laborious, (45 minutes + 2 hours in the oven) and maybe it will take some skill, it is a very interesting dish that allows us to prepare it in advance. With what is ideal for events, there is always little time to spend in good company.
• If we prepare this dish from one day to the next, it is usually taken cold, we leave the sauce in the fridge so that the fat rises to the surface and we can easily remove it with a spoon when it has curdled.
• We can prepare any other type of dressing or sauce to accompany it, a sauce with mustard or aromatic herbs would be an interesting alternative.
• It is a hearty dish that accompanied with a simple salad can be a complete meal without the need for anything else. If we want to serve the hot dish, it is best to heat the already prepared portions in the oven or in the micro.