If you’ve ever dreamed of creating a chef-quality meal at home, this dish is an excellent place to start. Starting off with fresh, hormone- and antibiotic-free chicken, then stuffing it with a flavorful mixture of rich cream and hearty forest mushrooms, this dish is sure to be a crowd pleaser. See below for the full recipe from Chef Peter Tseng.
Stuffed Joyce Farms Chicken with Forest Mushrooms
By Chef Peter Tseng
Yield: 2 Portions
Ingredients:
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⅔ pound mixed forest mushrooms (chanterelle, oyster, hedgehog, trumpet, shiitake), chopped
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1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon garlic, chopped, divided
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3 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
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3 teaspoons medium ground black pepper, divided
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½ tablespoon shallots, chopped
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1 cup dry sherry
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One 3-pound whole Joyce Farms Naked Chicken*
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1 cage-free large egg
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3 ½ cups heavy cream, divided
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4 ounces whole unsalted butter, divided
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1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
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1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
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1 sprig fresh thyme
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1 tablespoon fresh parsley, roughly chopped
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375°F. In a medium saucepan, begin cooking the mushrooms, allowing them to sweat, or release moisture. Add 1 tablespoon garlic, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper, the shallots, and the sherry. Cook until “au sec,” meaning there are no more liquids in the pan and vegetables are dry. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Rinse the chicken, inside and out, and pat dry with a paper towel. Leaving as much skin on the body as possible, remove the leg quarters. Pull the meat from the legs so that you end up with skinless and boneless meat. Set aside.
Next, remove the wishbone. Your final product will be chef quality if you take the time to perform this step. Feel for the wishbone at the top (clavicle), centering at the chest bone to the shoulder joints. With the tip of a paring knife, gently cut into the breast along the wishbone from the shoulder joint up to the chest bone, then back down the other side to the shoulder joint. Using a fingertip, reach in and start releasing the wishbone by sliding a finger between the bone and the shoulder joints on each side. With each side of the wishbone released, twist the wishbone clockwise to release from the chest bone.
In a food processor, combine the leg meat with the egg, 1 ½ cups heavy cream, the mushroom mixture, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1 teaspoon black pepper. Blend until a smooth, homogeneous mixture is created. The texture should be slightly tacky to the touch. Place the mix into a piping bag, or use a gallon Ziploc bag and cut a small tip out of the bottom corner. With the piping bag in one hand, use the other to gently pull the skin up on the breast enough to push the tip of the piping bag in, and fill the area with the mixture. Repeat on the other side. The skin should be very tight without the mixture spilling out the bottom.
Rub the chicken skin with 2 ounces of butter and season with sage, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon black pepper. Bend the wing tips behind the shoulder joint to keep the roast upright in the oven. If needed, fold aluminum foil 3 layers thick, 2 inches tall, 10 inches long, bend into a ring, and place around the chicken to help hold it upright.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Baste the chicken in fat drippings, then continue baking for another 20 minutes. Repeat until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 160°F. Remove the chicken from the oven and allow it to rest and “carryover cook”** until the temperature reaches 165°F for a minimum of 15 seconds.
While the chicken is resting, prepare the sauce. Remove the drippings from the roasting pan, scraping the bottom of the pan with a rubber spatula to loosen up any stuck-on bits. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the drippings with 2 cups heavy cream, Dijon mustard, thyme, 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt, 1 teaspoon black Pepper, 1 teaspoon garlic, and parsley. Simmer until the sauce coats the back of a spoon, roughly 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the sprig of thyme.
Once the chicken has rested, pull each breast off of the chest bone. This step will be easy if you removed the wishbone. Slice the breast against the grain, fan out the sliced meat, and pour the sauce over the slices to serve.
*Joyce Farms Naked Chicken is pure chicken, raised with nothing added. That means no growth stimulants, no hormones, no antibiotics or other drugs, no pesticides, and no preservatives EVER.
**Meat continues to cook after it has been removed from a heat source, a phenomenon known as “carryover cooking.”
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