I've always loved this recipe for Date and Rosemary Roast Chicken. I think I saw the idea in a Readers Digest and made my own off of that. It takes everything up a notch. It's going to take a wee bit more effort because of mixing the glaze and stuffing but it'll be worth it. I'd call this an important company worth dinner! Or in my case? A midweek mind blowingly delicious impress your husband dinner.
"Oh hey Honey, yeah I know I took care of the kids all day and did loads of things around the house and milked the cow when you got home from work, but yes, yes that amazing aroma is the chicken I prepped ahead of time and popped in the oven before having some one on one time with my main gal, Will. You can bow anytime you want. Kiss my feet even if you'd like"
Okay. So I would never say anything quite like that to Marius, mainly because he would just be like yuhuh okay. BUT. I did make the glaze and stuffing after lunch, then right before I went to milk, I pulled the chicken out of the fridge, dumped it in the dutch oven, poured the stuffing in, rubbed some glaze on and put 'er in the oven. I felt pretty proud of myself, because when I am on it enough to prep dinner well ahead of time so at actual making dinner time there is very little to do? I get all chest puffed out proud of myself. Like yeah, I'm really that good. (Just don't come over and see tomorrow's dinner time, kk?)
There's a problem with the photos though, and thats that at 6:30 pm in November, there is not ONE speck of daylight left. So I worked with what I had and you'll just have to imagine I took much better photos.
It looks pretty unassuming fresh out of the pot. Kinda like any regular ol' chicken. It's once you scoop out the sauce that's made itself in the bottom of the pot that makes it soar.
By scooping the date, rosemary and lemon out of the chicken, whisking it in the liquid at the bottom pot, you've just made your self the most amazing pan sauce for drizzling. Chives optional.
I used a small chicken for this, we usually have 5-8 pound chickens, (check out this post on what a large chicken breaks down into) but we tried a different breed and the hens were only 3 ½-4 ½ pound butchered. Still just as tasty, but not as big. Oh well! If I was using a larger chicken, I wouldn't increase the amounts of stuffing or glaze, just cooking time.
Date and Rosemary Roast Chicken
Ingredients
- 3-4 pounds whole chicken thawed
Glaze
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons dijon mustard
Stuffing
- 1 cup finely chopped dates I used baking dates that come in a brick you have to chop up
- 2 tablespoons dry rosemary or 4 tablespoons fresh rosemary chopped
- 2 small lemons, juice & zest I prefer organic especially when using zest!
- 3 tablespoons of the glaze
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Whisk together all of the ingredients for the glaze.
- Stir together the stuffing ingredients.
- Put your chicken in a dutch oven or pan you can cover well with tinfoil.
- Pour/Stuff the stuffing into the cavity of the chicken.
- Rub â…“ of the glaze over the chicken and cover with oven safe lid or tented tinfoil.
- Roast the chicken for about 20 minutes a pound.
- Glaze halfway through roasting.
- Glaze the chicken again when it reaches 170F, then let it rest for 10 minutes.
- Scoop the stuffing out of the cavity, take the chicken out and put it on a carving block.
- Whisk together the dates into the juices in the bottom of the pot, then pour into a dish. I use my 1 cup Pyrex glass measuring cup for easy pouring!
- Slice the roast chicken, and put the dish of sauce on the table for pouring! Enjoy!
wendyjv
Well, this definitely looks like something I need to try.
mamabuckwheat
It's a must try!
Korena in the Kitchen
This sounds like a game-changer. Is the bird roasted covered or uncovered?
mamabuckwheat
Covered! Just edited that 🙂 You can tell you read DALS when you use phrases like "game changer" Love it
Korena in the Kitchen
Haha, so true 😉