Thursday, August 1, 2013

Nigella Lawson's Georgian Stuffed Chicken

Nigella Lawson is one of my most favourite chef, even though she insists that she is not a chef, but in my opinion, she is very much a fantastic chef in my books! I like her fuss-free style and down to earth approach of preparing meals, quite unlike those michelin stars chefs who constantly craves for perfection down to the last detail! And some with very nasty temper too! haha! And she is one who is not afraid of showing her flaws in some of her food preparation. There was one cake recipe from one of her books that she made for photo taking and in the photo it shows that the cake is not perfectly smooth, as some of it got stuck to the baking pan. Nigella says that, she could make the bake again for the perfect photo but she did not want to, because these thing happens to all of us. She's right and it does not mean that you are any less a good baker!

When I think of Nigella, roasted chicken comes to mind, I don't know why, I guess the minute some chefs came to mind, a particular dish, maybe a specialty of the chef would follow, how about you? 
For me, when it is Nigella, it is roasted chicken!  What about you, when Nigella comes to mind, what dish or bake that you think of instantly? Very interesting....!!  I would really love to know!

A couple of months ago when I knew that I was going to co-host this month's event, with The Domestic Goddess as the featured chef, I wasted no time in searching for a roast chicken recipe. 
Found an interesting one from one of my cookbooks collection, "The New York Times Chicken Cookbook". There is a Nigella Lawson recipe for a roasted chicken stuffed with rice. Already sounds so delicious to me!


The roasted chicken is really very simple, it's the stuffing that is very tasty! Firstly you would need to cook the rice to be stuffed into the chicken cavity before roasting. Basmati rice is used here, washed and soaked for 20 minutes, drain before use. Firstly saute some onions and garlic until brown, add the rice, chopped dried cherries which I've replaced with dried cranberries, water and salt to taste. Use chicken stock if you have, it would definitely be more tasty. Bring it to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and continue to cook for another 15 minutes until rice are cooked. Fluff up rice and season with salt and pepper to taste together with a generous amount of chopped fresh parsley. 


Spoon the rice into the cavity of chicken, secure with toothpicks, rub chicken with butter and some salt, and bake for 1-1/2 hours or until chicken is cooked, skin is crisp and golden.

While the chicken is quite simple and good as it is, I think it would be even better with some added herbs instead of just butter. Which I did, I baked this again about a month later, due to requests from my family, yes, they requested for this again, they love the rice. I rubbed the chicken with some fresh thymes, a squeeze of lemon, a generous sprinkling of coarse black pepper, salt and butter. And this time I cooked more rice, added more dried cranberries. Some of the rice goes to the cavity of the chicken before roasting, and the rest served at the dining table.


The rice is very tasty and delicious, we love the sweet sour bite of the dried cranberries in the rice, and the fragrant rice from the parsley. I served the chicken and rice with some greens, cherry tomatoes and a potato salad, another delicious salad from Nigella, which I shall be sharing in the coming posts. We really enjoyed our dinner, well, twice! 


Nigella Lawson's Georgian Stuffed Chicken
(adapted from "The New York Times Chicken Cookbook")
2 (5-pound) chickens
6 tablespoons butter
2 onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup basmati rice
2 cups water
1/2 cup dried sour cherries, roughly chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped parsley
  1. Remove any fat from cavities of chickens, and place fat in a wide saucepan. Add 4 tablespoons of the butter and place over medium heat. When butter melts, add onions and garlic. Saute until onions soften and begin to brown, about 5 minutes.
  2. Discard any remaining hard bits of chicken fat. Add rice and chopped cherries to pan. Stir well, and add 2 cups water and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to as low as possible. Cook for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oven to 425 degrees.
  3. Season rice mixture with salt and pepper to taste and stir in parsley. Spoon rice into cavities of both chickens, and secure openings with toothpick.
  4. Place chickens in a roasting pan and rub with remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Place in oven and roast until skin is crisp and golden and juices run clear when pierced near the thigh with a knife, 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Discard toothpicks and allow chicken to rest before carving. Serve each portion of chicken with some stuffing.
#67/100

I'm linking this post to Cook Like A Star, where the featured chef for this month is NIGELLA LAWSON. Cook Like A Star is an event organized by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids, and the co-hosts for this month are Anuja from Simple Baking and me, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours. Cook or bake any of Nigella Lawson's recipes and link your posts to any of the hosts' linky which will stay open for the whole month of August. All submissions to this event must be current posts, published within the current month of this event, any older posts will be deleted. Please mention and link Cook Like A Star somewhere in your post. Do join us, everyone is welcome!


To view all the delicious entries at Cook Like A Star, July month, where the featured chef is Curtis Stone, head on over to Bake For Happy Kids, Eat Your Heart Out and Life Can Be Simple.



Cook Like A Star featuring Nigella Lawson, from 1st August to 31st August 2013



To submit your link for this event, please click here.


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28 comments:

  1. Looks great! Never know that cooked rice can be stuffed to flavour chicken in such way. I love watching Nigella cooking show. Love her easy going style of cooking.

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  2. Hi Joyce , much different from the bread stuffing ... love rice ,a must try , thanks for sharing :)

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  3. Hi Joyce
    Indeed......after cooking this dish, I totally agreed that it sure made us cook like a star. It sure look so pro and Im sure it taste superb too. You are a star.

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  4. Looks delicious, stuffing the basmathi rice in the chicken! Wow! Would love to try this!

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  5. Hi Joyce,

    Funny that the thought of Nigella reminds you of roast chicken. Is it because it is homely-mummy-tasty dish? Indeed this Georgian style with stuffed rice sounds really mummy-licious!

    For me, Nigella reminds me of chocolate cake! Wish that I can be domestic goddess like her... baking lots of chocolate cakes to make my chocoholic family very happy :D

    Zoe

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  6. Hi Joyce, Nigella also reminds me of her chicken recipes. I am planning to cook two from the book Kitchen:D

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  7. Oh, my, does this chicken/rice look phenomenal! I love the idea of cooking the rice inside the poultry...it must be so flavorful. Nigella rocks!!!

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  8. Total YUM! this looks such a great meal and I'm a Nigella fan too!
    Mary x

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  9. I know my sons are going to love this dish although I am not a big fan of rice. Bet the chicken makes the rice even more flavorful after roasting....one delicious meal indeed!

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  10. I love this absolutely Joyce! I love Nigella récipes!!

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  11. Wahhh #1 spot! and a great recipe of Nigella's too!

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  12. I too like Nigella and her simple way of cooking. Also your stuffed chicken looks simply delicious.
    Deepa

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  13. hi Joyce, never stuffed chicken with rice but now looking (or shall I say drooling) at these clicks m itching to try it. great choice of recipe to start off the month. So happy to co host with you :). Have a nice day!
    Anuja

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  14. This is such a flavourful and delicious chicken dish! Love how its stuffed with rice and the rice must be superbly flavourful.

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  15. Ans she is one gorgeous lady too! Can I assume that that plate of stuffed chicken with rice is for me?

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  16. Joyce, can I say that your stuffed chicken looks absolutely gorgeous and stunning? Hehe sounds like how Nigella would talk like she's on her show isn't it? :P But hey, it's true. I love how wholesome your meal looks. Btw, I agree with Zoe that Nigella reminds me of chocolate and sometimes, even bacon ;P

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  17. Ooo stuffing the chicken with rice sounds interesting. Whenever I think of Nigella, I always think of her cakes.... I think she likes extra sweet things!

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  18. so gorgeous and stunning..Shall I come over to your place? :-)

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  19. If you only knew how badly I've been wanting a roasted chicken, Joyce. It has been so hot here I refuse to turn on the oven. We are in for a cool down though and this chicken recipe is certainly one to consider.

    Would you believe I don't have one Nigella cookbook? The way you describe her writing style, it sure seems like I better check out her cookbooks. Thanks Joyce and thanks for sharing too...

    P.S. I noticed you don't do much pinning on your Pinterest. Well, let me tell you, I do and I've pinned this recipe too!!!

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  20. Hi Joyce, Wow! What an amazing recipe! Never have thought of stuffing rice before. looks so good & delicious . I love Nigella's recipe & this recipe is in my 'must cook' list now!

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  21. Wow, what a fantastic looking dish! I love finding new chicken recipes!

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  22. joyce I stuff chicken with glutinous rice but never try rice b4, looks tempting.

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  23. Love Ms Lawson's recipes :D Your stuffed chicken looks perfectly-baked and makes my mouth water- I bet it taste as good as it looks !

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  24. Joyce, your stuffed roasted chicken is fantastic! I am bookmarking this recipe. I don't get to watch the telly very often and have caught Nigella's shows sporadically. I guess I must have missed those episodes where she does chicken. I always associate her with chocolate cake :)

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  25. hi joyce, i'm back! really interesting about the cooked rice stuffed in the chicken. I dont hv any idea what dish comes to mind when it comes to a particular chefs. Talk to you later, lots to catch up.

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  26. Love the idea of cooking the rice inside the chicken. I can imagine how flavourful it must have been.

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  27. Up to now, I still dare not handle the whole bird. Admire your courage and the dish as well.

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