Music I Cooked to:

Ingredients:

For the stuffing:

• Half a jar of cranberry sauce – around 200g
• 100ml ruby port
• 2 small onion, chopped
• 200g Pancetta or smoked bacon cubes
• 100g butter
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 900g sausage meat
• 280g fresh white or brown breadcrumbs
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• ½ tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 300g peeled, cooked chestnuts roughly chopped
• 2 medium egg, lightly beaten
• salt and pepper to taste

For the roast chicken:

• 2 x medium free-range chickens
• about 500ml of chicken stock
• 250ml white wine
• 2 lemon
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation Method:

For the stuffing –

1. Chop and fry the onion and pancetta gently in the butter, until the onion is tender and the bacon is cooked.
2. Add the garlic to onion and pancetta cubes and continue to fry for another minute or so.
3. Leave to cool slightly, then mix with all the remaining ingredients, including the cranberries and port, and add enough egg to bind. Fry a knob of stuffing in a little butter, taste and then adjust the seasoning as you see fit.
4. To stuff the chicken, begin at the neck end where you will find a flap of loose skin: gently loosen this away from the breast and pack about two-thirds of the stuffing inside. Make a neat round shape on the outside then tuck the neck flap under the bird’s back (you can secure it with a small skewer). Take the remaining stuffing and place it in the body cavity.
5. Place the chickens into a roasting tin, breast-sides up, and add just enough chicken stock and white wine to cover the bottom of the roasting tin.
6. Place the chicken in the roasting tin and smear 2 oz (50 g) of softened butter all over the chicken with your hands. Squeeze over the juice of half a lemon. Season the chicken all over with salt and freshly milled black pepper then arrange 7 rashers of smoked streaky bacon in a row along the breast. Cut one extra rasher in two and place a piece on each leg. Finally place the remaining half a lemon between the legs of the chicken. Cover the roasting tin with aluminium foil.
7. Roast in the centre of a pre-heated oven, gas mark 5, 375°F (190°C), for 20 minutes per lb (450 g) plus 10-20 minutes extra – this will be 1 hour and 50 minutes to 2 hours for a 5 lb (2.25 kg) bird. Baste three times with the stock/white wine mixture and fat during the cooking time. During the last basting, remove the crisped bacon rashers and keep them warm. For the final 30 minutes of cooking, remove the foil increase the heat to gas mark 7, 425°F (220°C) to give the skin that final golden crispiness. When it is cooked, remove it from the oven and cover it with foil. Sprinkle over some fresh chopped parsley. Leave to rest for 30 minutes before serving.

The stuffing used in this recipe can also be baked in a dish, or rolled into balls that will be crisp on the outside and moist inside. To bake, press the stuffing into a greased ovenproof dish in a layer that is around 4cm thick. Bake at 190C/gas 5/fan 170C for about 40 minutes, until browned and, in the case of sausage meat stuffing, cooked right through. Alternatively, roll into balls that are about 4cm in diameter. Roast the stuffing balls in hot fat (they can be tucked around the bird to be roasted, or done in a roasting tin of their own) for 30-40 minutes, until crisp and nicely browned on the outside.