Roasted Whole Chicken Breasts With Green Stuffing

Chef Kate's Note:

I love roast chicken, but I don't like dark meat. I love the flavor that roasting chicken with skin and on the bone provides. My compromise--get whole--not split--chicken breasts, stuff 'em and roast 'em. And I love sauce, but not necessarily gravy--so this has a thin but not unsubstantial sauce, more than enough for the chicken and the potatoes.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 50 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 3 whole chicken breasts , not split (preferably organic)
• 1 lb baby spinach , stemmed and washed
• 1 head garlic
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• ¼ teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
• 1 cup fresh basil leaf , stemmed and washed
• 2 lemons
• ¼ cup sweet butter
• 1 ½ cups dry white wine
• 2 lbs red potatoes
• ½ lb shiitake mushroom , cleaned and woody stems removed,thinly sliced
• ½-1 cup chicken stock
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Prepare medium sized roasting pan with rack by coating rack with olive oil (should be a roasting pan no larger than necessary to hold the three breasts and that can be placed on top of the stove for making the sauce)
2. Peel and roughly chop 4 cloves of garlic
3. Roughly chop spinach
4. Tear basil into small pieces
5. Place large skillet over high heat
6. When hot, add 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, chopped garlic, salt, spinach and basil
7. Grate fresh nutmeg into skillet
8. Stir fry until greeens are wilted and soft
9. Remove from heat and set aside to cool
10. Clean chicken breasts and remove any obvious clumps of fat or protruding skin
11. Preheat oven to 425°F
12. With your fingers, gently loosen skin from flesh of the chicken breasts
13. Again, gently, stuff greens mixture between the skin and the flesh of the breasts
14. Massage the surface of the breasts to evenly distribute the stuffing
15. Cut each lemon in half lengthwise (stem to end)
16. Rub the outside of the chicken breasts with butter
17. Squeeze the juice of one half of one lemon over the breasts and sprinkle the breasts with salt and pepper
18. Split the whole head of garlic into cloves; do not peel
19. Scatter the garlic gloves in the bottom of the roasting pan
20. Scrub potatoes; do not peel
21. If very small, leave whole; if larger, cut in half
22. Scatter potatoes in the bottom of the roasting pan
23. Place the three whole breasts, skin side down, on the oiled rack
24. Place a lemon half in the cavity of each breast
25. Roast 20 minutes
26. Baste with a third of the white wine
27. Carefully (without tearing the skin of the breast if possible) turn breast skin side up, placing lemon in cavity beneath each breast
28. Baste with pan juices
29. Roast another 20 minutes
30. Turn oven down to 375°F
31. Baste with pan juices; if there is not sufficient liquid in the pan, add more white wine and/or water
32. Roast another 10-12 minutes
33. Check for doneness
34. Remove from oven; tent with foil and allow to rest for at least ten to fifteen minutes
35. Remove excess fat from pan (there should be very little)
36. Remove potatoes and keep warm
37. Remove garlic cloves and squeeze out roasted garlic into the roasting pan
38. Place pan on stovetop over medium heat
39. Add mushrooms and allow to saute without stirring for 1 - 2 minutes
40. Turn mushrooms and saute another minute
41. Turn heat to high and add remaining wine and 1/2 to 1 cup of chicken broth
42. Scrape to deglaze and simmer until slightly reduced
43. Taste for seasoning
44. (Optional) Whisk in 1 - 2 Tablespoons of butter
45. Note: This is lovely served on a bed of steamed fresh spinach

Reviews

[lauralie41]

We enjoyed this chicken very much! I did use chicken stock for the white wine but followed the rest of the recipe exactly. My DH loved the mushrooms and the potatoes were so tasty! Beginning to be a big fan nutmeg too, just the right touch.

[mewmew]

This dish was not quite what I expected. I did add a little cornstarch to the sauce, but the sauce didn't have much flavor. I followed recipe exactly; I, too, only had button mushrooms.

[Susie D]

I truly wish I had more than 5 stars to give this recipe. This reminded so much of Sundays at my Grandmother's....only better :-) The flavor of this is just wonderful, roasted chicken at its best. The only changes I made were using the button mushrooms I had on hand & thickening the gravy with a little cornstarch. I also used lots of cracked black pepper. I just loved the burst of flavor from the lemon & wine and thought the nutmeg was a wonderful touch. The chicken was moist, fall off the bone tender, and sooo good. I will definitely use this recipe again! Thank you Chef Kate!