Last week, the girlfriend and I were talking about how we'd like to have some sort of Thanksgiving meal before Thanksgiving, "for practice" if you will. Well, I came up with an on-the-fly stuffed chicken recipe that resulted in absolute taste bud bliss.

First, I started with diced sweet potatoes that I boiled previously. I sauteed them with czech sausage or "kielbasa", onion, celery, garlic and red pepper.



Then, once cooled, stuff into a whole chicken and seal off with a lime or lemon. I had a lot of stuffing left over, so I surrounded the chicken with it for my awesome gravy that comes later. Once that's done, drizzle 2 tbsp of EVOO on the bird and season with freshly ground black pepper, sea salt and paprika.




Now here's the tricky part. I roasted my chicken for 2 hours at a low temp. DON'T do this. I was trying a Gordon Ramsay cooking technique that didn't work in my oven.

Roast your chicken on 425 for 20 minutes, then lower to 350 and cook for 20 minutes per pound. The initial heat will create a nice golden crust on top that you're looking for.



After your chicken is done, let it rest for 15-20 minutes much like you would a steak. While it's resting, collect your leftover stuffing from the pan and set aside. Season the remaining juices in the pan with salt and pepper, then halve your lime and squeeze it (pulp and all) into the gravy.

Note: it won't be thick like a traditional gravy, but is more of a roasting au jus.

After the bird has rested, pull the stuffing from inside and mix with the stuffing you removed from the pan, and top with 1/3 of the au jus. Half the bird and serve directly on a serving board for a more rustic "date night" meal.

Enjoy!

sounds tasty, is there anything you'd do different with the stuffing?

Everything sounded fine to me except for the sweet potatoes. Never did like those.

Yes, I wouldn't have put any oil when first sauteeing them and just used the rendered sausage fat instead. They came out a bit oily, but other than that, tasted great. The sweetness of the potatoes and spicy/saltiness of the sausage compliment each other so well.

You can use white beans (cannellini) instead and they don't lose their texture or become mushy.

There are several kinds of sweet potatoes.
One is lighter color and less robust.
Another is darker color stronger flavored aka yam.

BAM !! That looks tasty. Both of you did a really nice job. How did it taste?