This is a recipe that requires a bit of effort, and a lot of eagerness to please so that you can appreciate the time you will put into it. Your investment is really going to pay off not so much when you serve the dish as when everyone starts biting into it and humming with satisfaction. The skin is crispy, the meat is juicy and the aroma and taste will be nothing like anyone has tried before.
What you need
1 large and plump chicken (2 – 2.5 kg.)
10 strips bacon
150 gr. minced beef
100 gr. chicken livers
50 gr. pine nuts
50 gr. Carolina rice
Chicken stock
6 Latrovalis green olives stuffed with natural red pepper
6 Latrovalis green olives stuffed with garlic
4 Latrovalis Kalamon pitted olives
1 large orange
1 lemon
50 gr. butter at room temperature
1 medium onion
Extra virgin olive oil
All-spice berries
Black pepper corns
Dried herbs (oregano/thyme/rosemary)
Paprika
Coarse sea salt
Preparing the chicken
Ask your butcher to give you a very large chicken with as much of its skin intact as possible. Pat it dry with kitchen paper. Season it both on the outside and the inside with coarse sea salt. Set aside to rest so that the salt can be infused by the meat.
Preparing the stuffing
Cut all the stuffed olives in half with care, making sure that you cut the stuffing as well. Cut the chicken livers in small pieces. Zest the orange and lemon. Chop the onion finely and add it to a pan with the pine corns and some extra virgin olive oil on medium to high heat. Stir occasionally until the onion is glazed brown. Add the minced beef and the cut chicken livers. Stir the meats at intervals so that they are perfectly seared. Add the orange and lemon zest. Lower the heat to medium. Add the rice, the cut stuffed olives, a few all-spice berries and black pepper corns, and turn everything in the pan for a few minutes. Add some chicken stock in small amounts, allowing the mixture to absorb it before adding more. Stop adding stock when the rice is half-cooked. Take the stuffing off the heat in order to cool slightly.
Preparing the butter and olive baste
Squeeze the 4 Kalamata pitted olives with a fork until they become a paste. Work the olive paste into the room-temperature butter until both are mixed perfectly.
Pre-basting the chicken
Try gently to lift the skin off the meat of the chicken in as many places you can. Take the butter and olive baste with two fingers and massage the chicken meat under the skin.
Stuffing and coating the chicken
With a large spoon, start filling the chicken with the stuffing. Press each batch as deep as you can to try and fill as much of the stuffing as possible. Cut the zested orange in half and use one half to block the chicken opening, pressing against the stuffing. Tie the ends of the drumsticks tightly together to seal the opening as much as possible. Rest the stuffed chicken on its back in a roasting pan. Cover the chicken skin as much as you can with the strips of bacon. Sprinkle some paprika and dried herbs on the bacon. Juice the zested lemon and half remaining orange and add the juices to the roasting pan together with some chicken stock.
Roasting the chicken
Heat the oven to 1750 C / 3500 F. Roast the chicken for about 2 hours. Every now and then, check to see that there are still juices in the roasting pan, otherwise add a little chicken stock. When you see that the chicken is done, take it out of the oven and very gently remove the bacon strips, adding them to the juices of the pan. Return the chicken to the oven and set it to the grill for a VERY SHORT TIME until the skin of the chicken turns a golden brown color.
Serve your Olive-flavored Holiday Stuffed Chicken with roasted potatoes, vegetables, or any other accompaniments you prefer. Anyone who thought they were going to have just another stuffed chicken will change their mind with the first bite!