Seasonal Recipe of the Week
This recipe is from The Grains Cookbook by Bert Greene. How can you wrong with a stuffed chicken? Especially if it's stuffed with millet, prosciutto, garlic and fennel. Here’s the recipe great for the fall.
Ingredients
1/4 cup hulled millet seeds
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons chicken stock
3 cloves garlic minced
4 fresh Sage leaves, chopped
1/4 pound sliced Prosciutto, coarsely chopped
1/4 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds
1 3-1/2 pound chicken, organic if possible
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup water
1 tablespoon flour
Procedure
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the millet in a large heavy skillet and stir over medium heat until the seeds turn golden brown — about 5 minutes. The millet will slightly pop as it browns. Remove from heat. Combine millet with 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons chicken stock. Heat till boiling, reduce heat, cover and cook over medium heat till all liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat, fluff with fork, and allow to cool. Place millet in a medium-sized bowl and add minced garlic, sage, Prosciutto and fennel seeds. Combine well and stuff in chicken then sew it closed.
Rub chicken with 2 tablespoons of the butter and place it on a rack in a roasting pan. Add water to the roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes. Pour remaining 1 cup of chicken stock over chicken, reduce oven to 350 and roast for 30 minutes more, basting occasionally with juice in pan. Place any remaining stuffing in an oven-proof dish and bake 30 minutes along, with the chicken till its done. Remove trussing from the chicken and combine two stuffings. Keep chicken and stuffing warm in oven while making gravy. In a saucepan, melt the 1 tablespoon remaining butter and stir in the flour. Now add the pan juices and whisk till smooth. Serve gravy on the side with chicken.
