The Garden of Eden Type of Stuffed Chicken

For my 24th birthday I decided to invite my mother, her husband and my good friend Liz over for dinner. I have not cooked dinner for my mother in a long time and so I was excited. It’s nice to give back to the woman who cooked and fed me for so many years. My mother has always been an exceptional cook and I have learned so many things from her, especially the recipes I now alter and make my own.

This recipe, oddly enough, is not from my mother but rather from my future mother-in-law who visited us in August (from Israel) and cooked her heart out for two weeks straight. This amazing stuffed chicken she made became my new all time favorite. Of course because I am stubborn and can’t stick to originals I made some alterations but it is still sticking to her rules and regulations to meet perfection in stuffed chicken land.

It is a sweet stuffing filled with a huge variety of dried fruits. It is a really simple stuffing to make if you have a food processor or the Kitchen-Aid mini chopper that I so much adore. What’s also awesome is that all of these dried fruits can be frozen for next time. I bought a substantial size of each of the dried fruits and then dropped them into a zip lock bag and put them in the freezer. Every few weeks, when I make this chicken I have the fruits on hand. All I need to get are the fresh greens and I’m ready to go. Enjoy this Garden of Eden tucked in the cavity of a cute little chickadee!
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Dried Fruit Stuffed Chicken

Feeds: 6-8 people
Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cooking Time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

2 small chickens *(not baby chicken but smaller than the regular sized ones. I found really nice ones at Costco).
½ lb of chicken liver
1 cup of mint leaves (if you cannot find fresh mint, look for the dried version in the spice aisle and use 1/4 cup)
1 cup of cilantro
6-8 cloves of garlic
1 cup of rice, cooked as directed
4-6 pieces of each: dried dates, apricots, figs
2 tablespoons of each: dried pomegranates, cherries, cranberries, or a just get an assortment of dried berries
4 tablespoons of raisins
2 tablespoons of dried thyme for stuffing
2 tablespoons of dried thyme to smear on chicken
¼ cup of olive oil for stuffing
¼ cup of olive oil to smear on chicken (if you mix your dairy and meat, use a stick of butter, using ½ for each to smear).
Salt and pepper as desired
2 tablespoons of pine nuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Wash the chicken well, including the cavity of the chicken. If there is any large fat chunks trim them with a knife or kitchen scissor.

In a food processor, put the mint, cilantro and garlic and chop. If you do not have a food processor, chop them as finely as you can.

Next, process all of the dried fruits and raisins.

Take a large bowl and put the cooked rice, pine nuts, thyme, salt and pepper (about two teaspoons of each) and everything you chopped.

Chicken Liver: You must first cook the liver. First wash it well and then pat dry with a paper towel. In a small frying pan put a tiny bit of olive oil (about a teaspoon) and dry the liver till it is fully cooked (it should be a significantly browner color). Chop the liver and finely as you can and place in the bowl with the rest of the ingredients.

Add the olive oil and mix all of the ingredients well and stuff into the cavity of the chickens. Tie the legs of the chicken with cooking string tightly so the stuffing does not fall out. If you have extra stuffing left over, turn the chicken to the bottom and raise the skin from the meat. Stuff the stuffing as evenly as possible in between the skin and meat. (You do not have to do this but I like to have that extra stuffing on reserve!)

Smear the olive oil all over the chicken (top and bottom) sprinkle the thyme on the chicken. Season the chicken with salt and pepper (a few pinches of each).

*Again, if you do not keep kosher, using butter to smear the chicken is also very good and gives the skin a very crispy texture. Just allow the butter to sit at room texture so it is nice and mushy and smear-able. If the butter is already salted do not put MORE salt!

***If you do not want to cook the second chicken you can freeze it for another day. However, allow the chicken to thaw thoroughly before cooking it.

Cover the tray with foil and cook for 1 hour. Take off the cover and cook for another hour or until golden brown. Make sure to stick a knife into the chicken and check that the juices run clear. The clear juice indicates that the chicken is cooked.