Athenian Roast Stuffed Chicken Recipes

ATHENIAN CHICKEN: INSPIRED BY THE FLAVORS OF GREECE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Preheat oven to 375 F.
• Pound chicken breasts flat*-they should uniformly be about 3/8-inch thick.
• Combine 3 tablespoons of minced herbs with garlic and 1/3 of the cheese.
• Lay out breasts with what was the skin-side down, lightly season breasts with salt and pepper then spread half of cheese/herb mixture on each breast, roll up, and either tie with twine or pin with toothpicks.
• Heat oil in a medium cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat, then, treating the breasts as though they're 3-sided, brown on 2 sides-about 3 minutes per side. Turn unbrowned side down and place skillet in the oven on the middle rack and cook for another 6 to 8 minutes.
• Remove skillet from oven and place breasts on a plate and tent with foil.
• Being very careful of the hot handle, add wine to the cast-iron skillet over medium heat and scrape up browned bits. Reducing wine by about half.
• Add half and half and bring to a simmer. Add remaining herbs (reserving a couple of pinches for a final garnish), feta, white pepper to taste, and lemon juice. Cook for about 30 seconds.
• Plate chicken breasts, removing twine or toothpicks, pour the sauce over them and sprinkle with a final pinch of herbs. (For a colorful and nutrient-rich meal, you might want to serve this with roasted cherry tomatoes, microgreens, fresh peas, and either orzo , couscous or rice.)
• Serve and enjoy.

GREEK STUFFED CHICKEN BREASTS

Steps:

• Zest lemon. Remove lemon pith with a sharp knife and slice flesh horizontally. Reserve slices.
• Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in an oven-safe, nonstick skillet over medium heat until it shimmers, 2 to 3 minutes. Add onion and cook until translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Add lemon zest and garlic and heat until fragrant, about 1 minute.
• Add spinach to the onion mixture. Cook and stir until heated through, about 3 minutes. Remove spinach-onion mixture to a bowl. Wipe skillet clean and set aside. Stir feta cheese and olives into the spinach mixture. Season with salt and pepper.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Cut a 2-inch slit along the edges of the thick side of each chicken breast. Cut lengthwise, being careful not to cut through the bottom or the opposite edge, creating a pocket. Season the pocket with salt and pepper.
• Stuff each chicken breast with 1/2 of the onion and spinach mixture and close the slits with toothpicks. Dust chicken lightly with flour, salt, and pepper.
• Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering, about 2 minutes. Place chicken in the hot oil with the rib side facing up. Cook until browned, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Turn chicken rib-side down and place lemon slices on top.
• Bake in the preheated oven until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 165 degrees F (74 degrees C), about 35 minutes.

GREEK-STUFFED CHICKEN BREAST WITH LEMON SAUCE

Steps:

• Place chicken breasts on a flat work surface. Slice each horizontally through the middle, being careful not to cut all the way through to the other side. Open the 2 sides and spread them out like an open book. Place each one between 2 sheets of heavy plastic. Firmly pound chicken with the smooth side of a meat mallet to a 1/4-inch thickness.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Season insides of chicken with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Layer spinach, tomato, onion, and feta cheese over chicken in that order. Roll chicken over the stuffing and tie ends with butcher's twine.
• Mix olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper together to make the sauce.
• Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat. Add chicken; cook until browned, about 5 minutes per side. Brush 1/2 of the sauce on top.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Pour the remaining sauce over chicken. Continue baking until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center reads at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C), 10 to 15 minutes more.
• Remove chicken and let rest for 5 minutes. Slice into pinwheels and serve with pan juices.

ROAST STUFFED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325°F.
• Mix hot water and margarine in large bowl until margarine is melted. Add stuffing mix; stir just until moistened. Set aside. (Do not stuff chicken until ready to bake.)
• Stuff chicken lightly with prepared stuffing; close openings with skewers and string. Place, breast-side up, on rack in baking pan; sprinkle with thyme.
• Bake 1 hour 40 min. or until chicken is done (165°F) and stuffing is heated through (165ºF), basting occasionally with pan juices.

GREEK-STYLE ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Put the potatoes in a roasting tin and drizzle with half the oil. Sit the chicken thighs on top, drizzle over the remaining oil and season. Roast in the oven for 30 mins.
• Add the cherry tomatoes, olives, oregano leaves and feta, then drizzle with the red wine vinegar. Return to the oven for another 25-30 mins until the chicken is cooked through and golden.

CHICKEN ATHENA

Steps:

• Place chicken in a 3-qt. slow cooker. Add the remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or until a thermometer reads 170°.

SIMPLE/EASY STUFFED ROAST CHICKEN WITH GRAVY (FOR BEGINNERS)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Empty contents of stuffing box, both the bread crumb and seasoning envelopes, into a medium bowl.
• Add hot water and butter; stir to mix.
• Add chopped water chestnuts, onion and poultry seasoning, mix thoroughly and set aside.
• Check inside the chicken for giblets, remove and set aside.
• Rinse chicken inside and out with cold running water.
• Dry thoroughly inside and out with paper towel.
• Sprinkle salt and fresh ground pepper inside the cavity and all over the outside.
• Place chicken in a roaster.
• Loosely pack the stuffing mix into the main cavity and any left into the neck cavity folding the skin over it.
• If necessary secure the neck skin with a pick.
• Take a length of kitchen string and tie the ends of the legs as close together as possible.
• Rub the butter all over the outside of the chicken making sure to cover the whole outside surface.
• Take two lengths of aluminum foil, place one piece over the chicken lengthwise, take the other piece and place it sideways over the first piece.
• Tuck the foil tightly to the chicken so it is touching the bottom of the roaster but not under the bird.
• If the bird is not completely covered (except for the underside) Use a third piece to finish covering.
• Place the roaster on the middle rack of the oven and roast at 400f degrees for 15 minutes.
• Reduce the heat after 15 minutes to 350f degrees and roast for approximately 2 hours.
• At about 2 hours, carefully lift the aluminum foil and poke the chicken with a fork, if the juice runs clear, remove the foil and roast a further 30 minutes to brown the skin to golden.
• If the juice is not yet clear, roast a little longer and check again.
• Once the chicken is well browned, remove to platter, cover with foil and let rest.
• In the meantime, if you wish to make giblet gravy, take the giblets (and neck if it's there), place in a saucepan, cover with water, add salt and pepper and a little poultry seasoning if you wish, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for at least an hour.
• Remove to strainer, reserving liquid.
• Chop the giblets and pick any meat off neck bones, add to a blender and add the liquid.
• Blend to liquefy level, add 3 or 4 tablespoons flour or corn starch and blend to mix well.
• Pour off as much fat as possible from the roaster, take a whisk and move up any bits and pieces of stuffing/chicken stuck to the bottom, remove any large pieces of skin, add the giblet mix from the blender, whisk around; place in 450°F to 500°F degree oven until bubbly, about 10 minutes; add a small amount of hot water if necessary if it is too thick until it is the consistancy you want, cook another 5 minutes.
• (We like ours very thick) Whisk and pour into gravy boat and serve hot with the roast chicken.
• Gravy can also be made without the giblets, just whisk up the brown bits in the roaster and add 1 cup of hot water and make a slurry of cold water and either flour or corn starch, add the slurry and whisk, cook the same as above adding a little more water if necessary.