Rice-Stuffed Chicken

How to prepare rice-stuffed chicken

1. Start by deboning the chicken. Remove the breast and back bones. I didn't remove the bones from the legs and wings. To debone the chicken you need a knife and scissors. Use the knife to separate the bone from the meat, and scissors to help when you need to cut through bones or cartilage. It's not a very difficult process, but you need patience to remove the bones neatly without making holes in the skin. Wash the cleaned chicken, pat dry with paper towels and leave at room temperature while you prepare the stuffing.
2. Finely chop the onion, grate the carrot and dice the pepper into small cubes. Wipe the mushrooms with a damp cloth, remove the stems and dice them.
3. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil and sauté the onion, carrot and pepper until the onion is very soft (about 10 minutes). Add the mushrooms and sauté over higher heat until softened (about 2-3 minutes). Deglaze with the white wine and cook until evaporated. Season with salt and black pepper. Transfer the vegetables to a bowl.
4. In the same pan, heat another tablespoon of oil and one of butter and sauté the livers on both sides until lightly browned (about 2 minutes per side; they don't need to be fully cooked). Chop the livers finely (either with a knife or mash them with a fork) and add them to the vegetables. Add the thyme leaves and as much chopped parsley as you like. Add pine nuts or almonds if using. Add a little more salt and pepper.
5. Rinse the rice in several changes of cold water until the water runs clear.
6. Cook the rice in the hot chicken broth (I used 500ml frozen concentrated chicken broth and added 1 cup of water). Cook for only half the time indicated on the package (mine said 20 minutes and I cooked for 10 minutes from when the water started boiling). Drain the rice (reserve the broth) and rinse under cold running water to stop the cooking.
8. Add the rice to the stuffing and mix gently. Add more salt for the rice.
9. Sew the chicken closed at the neck area. Fill the chicken with the stuffing. Pack it well, press with your hand to get the stuffing in everywhere. Leave just a little space as the rice will expand slightly more. Hold the chicken up by its legs and pour 50ml of broth (from cooking the rice) over the stuffing. Sew the opening closed.
10. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Mix the oil with turmeric and brush the chicken all over.
11. Roast the chicken at 180°C until golden and fully cooked (about 1 hour and 15 minutes). After 45 minutes, add the honey, vinegar and cinnamon to the remaining turmeric oil and brush the top of the chicken. You can brush the chicken with this mixture as many times as needed until done.
12. When done, remove the chicken and cover with aluminum foil. Let it rest for at least 15 minutes. Then cut the chicken in half lengthwise and then in half crosswise. Serve immediately.

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