Bread & Herb Stuffed Chicken

📝 Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (about 1.6 kg)
• 150 g stale country bread
• 100 ml semi-skimmed milk
• 1 brown onion (about 100 g)
• 1 egg
• 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley (about 30 g)
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 unwaxed lemon (zest for the stuffing, juice for the vegetables)
• 2 tbsp olive oil (1 for the onion, 1 for the vegetables)
• 1 kg potatoes (6 medium, about 170 g each)
• 600 g carrots (6 carrots of about 100 g each)
• 1 chicken stock cube + 200 ml hot water
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Large baking dish
• Frying pan
• Mixing bowl
• Kitchen string
• Aluminium foil
• Chopping board

📖 Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Cut the stale bread into 1 cm cubes, put them in a mixing bowl, pour over the milk and leave to swell for 10 min, stirring once. The bread should be well soaked but not soggy.
2. Meanwhile, peel and chop the onion. Fry it for 5 min over a medium heat in the frying pan with 1 tbsp oil until soft and translucent, without letting it brown. Finely chop the parsley and grate the lemon zest.
3. Add the onion, parsley, thyme, zest, egg, ½ tsp salt and some pepper to the bread. Mix by hand, squashing lightly: the stuffing should hold together in a ball when pressed.
4. With your fingers, pull away the lumps of yellow fat at the opening of the cavity and under the neck skin, then pat the chicken dry with kitchen paper. Salt the inside, fill it with the stuffing without packing it too tightly (it swells during cooking) and tie the legs together with string to close.
5. Place the chicken in the large roasting dish and season the skin with salt and pepper. Dissolve the stock cube in the hot water and pour it into the bottom of the dish. Roast for 30 min at 200 °C.
6. Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and carrots, cut the potatoes into 4 cm chunks and the carrots into 4 cm lengths, then toss them in the mixing bowl with 1 tbsp oil and some salt.
7. Take out the dish, arrange the vegetables around the chicken and spoon the juices over the chicken. Lower the oven to 190 °C and continue cooking for 1 hour, basting every 20 min and turning the vegetables once. If the skin browns too quickly, cover it with foil.
8. Check it is cooked: when you pierce the thickest part of the thigh, the juices should run clear with no trace of pink, and the leg should move easily. With a thermometer, aim for 75 °C in the centre of the stuffing. Leave the chicken to rest out of the oven for 10 min, under a sheet of foil.
9. Drizzle the vegetables with the lemon juice. Using a spoon, skim off the fat floating on the surface of the juices in the dish. Carve the chicken, spoon out the stuffing and serve with the vegetables and the skimmed juices.