Roast chicken is kind-a-absolutely delicious. But do you know what’s even better? Stuffed roast chicken… and when it’s stuffed with stuff like bacon, almonds and leeks, holy sh!tballs this paleo stuffed roast chicken was the goods!
Matt from SUP’ing Caveman invited us to dinner at his place (he also invited us to try stand up paddle boarding which you can read about here), he did the bird and we brought the sweet treat. Yes, it was a paleo feast!
The cave family are super nice! As most kids do, the little caveboy took up all of our attention (he’s just so cute!). The funniest thing about him is that he runs on his tip toes everywhere… so he is like a little Fred Flinstone or Barney Rubble, how funny (yes, small things entertain us!).
Anyway back to that bird, here’s the recipe. We are yet to make it so if there are any issues with the recipe talk to Matt… hehe. The recipe is on the to-do list (our to-do list is a monster :D).
- 1.5kg chicken (bigger will cause the bird to take longer to cook smaller will not. Use a thermometer to be sure)
- 1 tbs. fresh thyme
- 1 tbs. olive oil
- 1 cup almond meal (you can use other nut meals, Matt said he has tried hazelnut and macadamia…yum!)
- 100g button mushrooms finely chopped (whatever mushrooms you want, not magic though)
- 2 rashers of bacon finely chopped (or more if you like!)
- 1 leek finely chopped (pale section only)
- 1 egg lightly whisked
- 2 tbs. chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tbs. coconut oil
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat.
- Add the mushrooms, bacon, leek and cook until the bacon is cooked.
- Transfer bacon mix to a bowl and stir through the almond meal. Allow to cool.
- Add the parsley and egg, stir until combined. If you add the egg while still hot you will scramble the egg.
- Remove excess fat and giblets from the bird cavity. Do not remove the neck or too much fat around his/her backside.
- Rinse the bird inside and out under cold running water.
- Pat dry with paper towel.
- Loosely fill the cavity with stuffing mixture, use un-waxed white kitchen string to tie the legs together.
- If you want to keep the stuffing in the bird, close the cavity up with skewers or sew it shut.
- Finally, tuck wings under and place the bird, breast-side up in a roasting pan.
- Drizzle the bird with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with thyme. Don't be stingy with any of this and really rub the oil and salt in and don't be afraid to get big pieces of thyme on the bird.
- If you can find a lemon thyme and salt rub use that in addition to the fresh thyme, it's beautiful.
- Roast in oven for 1 1/2 hours or until golden and the juices run clear when the thickest part of the thigh is pierced with a skewer.
- Cover with foil. Set aside for 10 minutes to rest before carving.
- Serve with delicious salads or roast veggies.