Chicken with Swiss Chard and Sausage Stuffing
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Ingredients
  • For Swiss Chard and Sausage Stuffing:
  • Milk
  • 6 ounces French or Italian bread, cut into ½-inch slices
  • 8 ounces Swiss chard or fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
  • 8 ounces pork sausage
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • ¼ cup finely chopped celery
  • 1 small clove garlic, crushed
  • ¼ cup snipped parsley
  • 1 egg, slightly beaten
  • ⅓ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 Tablespoon fresh snipped basil leaves or 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • Salt, to taste
  • For Chicken:
  • 1 roasting chicken, about 6-7 pounds
  • Melted butter, for brushing on chicken
Instructions
  1. For Stuffing: Pour enough milk over bread slices in a bowl to saturate. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Press bread lightly in a sieve to get out as much liquid as possible, then crumble slightly.
  2. Cook chard uncovered in a small amount of salted water for 5 minutes and drain; set aside. Brown sausage in a large skillet, then add onion, celery, and garlic. Cook until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in bread, chard, parsley, egg, cheese, and basil. Taste for salt; set aside while preparing chicken.
  3. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Pat chicken dry and fill cavity with stuffing. Tie drumsticks together with kitchen string. (Leftover stuffing can be placed in a small baking dish and baked the last 15 or 20 minutes of roasting chicken).
  4. Place chicken breast side up in open shallow roasting pan and brush all over with melted butter. Roast uncovered for about 2 to 2-1/2 hours depending on exact size of chicken. Chicken is done when thickest parts are fork-tender and drumstick meat feels very soft when pressed between fingers. Let chicken rest about 10 minutes before slicing.
Recipe by The Culinary Cellar at https://theculinarycellar.com/chicken-swiss-chard-sausage-stuffing/