The Lush Chef

Libations used: 1/2 cup dry white wine...
Libations left over: pretty much the whole bottle so pour yourself a glass while the chicken is roasting, or serve with dinner...
I haven't roasted a chicken in so long, and it's one of my favorite things to do.  If you've ever seen Amélie, you may recall a scene where the character Dominique Bretodou roasts a chicken each Sunday night and just loves picking apart the carcass.  Yeah, I understand that.  I usually roast it simple with fresh herbs, salt, pepper and olive oil, or I'll do a Beer Can Chicken, but this time I wanted to try something different.  I had never tried a Stuffed Under the Skin Chicken recipe and most call for some kind of soft cheese, fresh herbs or spinach, garlic and spices.  I found this simple recipe a couple of times on the interweb that uses goat cheese, garlic, fresh herbs, some lemon juice and white wine.  Bingo.  Gotta have the booze in there or else I can't blog about it!

Some recipes tell you to just start stuffing the cheese mixture under the skin, but I found it was easier to butterfly or spatchcock the chicken first.  If you've never done it before, it's actually quite easy and fun. Here's a great video to show you how.  This will make the stuffing process so much smoother since you'll have a flatter surface to work with.


Stuffed Under the Skin Chicken - serves 4-6
Ingredients:

• 3-4 lb chicken
• 1/4 cup goat cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup fresh herbs (I used a combination of rosemary, thyme and sage)
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• Juice from half a lemon
• Freshly ground black pepper & salt, to taste
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (I used Toasted Head Chardonnay)

- Preheat oven to 400.
- In a small bowl, thoroughly combine the goat cheese, herbs and garlic.
- Spatchcock (this word is more fun to say than butterfly) your chicken and press it flat.  You can cut it in half at this point so it fits whatever roasting vessel you're using.
- Run your fingers underneath the skin of the chicken to open up those pockets, being careful not to break the skin.  I like to open an area by each breast and then one by each thigh.
- Take small globs of the cheese and start to stuff it underneath the skin.  Don't be afraid to get messy here!
- In a roasting pan or large Dutch oven, place the chicken in breast side up.
- Pour lemon juice and generously sprinkle salt and pepper on top.
- Roast for about 40 minutes.
- Pour the stock and white wine on top and roast for another 10 minutes, or until the juices run clear when pierced with a fork.