Roast Chicken with Chorizo and Pepper Stuffing

A roasting chicken would have to right up there on the list of best smells to come out of a kitchen. Along with bacon sizzling in a pan and onions frying in butter and chocolate chip cookies straight out of the oven... 

... and chorizo being browned in a cast iron skillet...

...and piqulllio peppers stewing in the golden juices of fried chorizo.

Oh yeah, it smells goooood.

Stuff your bird with the chorizo-y, pepper-y stuffing. 

It's hard to make stuffing a chicken look like anything other than gynecological 

(Sorry for that mental picture!) 

Now stuff that chicken with half a lemon. 

(Is anyone else thinking about the labour ward right now?... Sorry, again.)

And roast it until it's golden and smells divine.

Spoon out the delicious stuffing.

Carve the chicken and serve the stuffing and gravy 

(which is not pictured here because I forgot it), on the side.

And just for the record... stuffing and roasting a chicken is a whole lot easier than childbirth, thank goodness.

Roast Chicken with Chorizo and Pepper Stuffing
adapted from Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course

For the Stuffing:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 chorizo sausages, cut into small dice
1 red onion, cut into small dice
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
A small handful semi dried tomatoes, chopped
A small handful piquillo peppers, chopped
1 x 400g can pinto beans, drained
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

For the Chicken:
1.6kg chicken
olive oil
1 tablespoon paprika
Sea salt flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
Half a lemon
200ml white wine
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
Cornflour slurry: 1 teaspoon cornflour mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water

Make the Stuffing:
Add the oil to a large frying pan. Heat over medium heat and add the chorizo, cook until golden. Add the peppers, onion, garlic and semi dried tomatoes. Cook until the onions have softened, about 7 minutes. Add the beans and thyme leaves and cook, stirring until the beans are heated. Season to taste and set aside.

Cook the Chicken:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper inside and out. Stuff the chicken with the hot stuffing. Pop half a lemon into the cavity of the bird. This will flavour the chicken and stop the stuffing from coming out. Pour some oil over the skin of the bird and sprinkle with the paprika. Rub the paprika into the skin.

Place the chicken into a roasting pan and pour the wine into the bottom of the pan. Cover tightly with foil and roast for an hour. Take the foil off and roast for a further 30 minutes, uncovered. Remove the chicken to a board to rest while you make the gravy.

Make the Gravy:
Remove the lemon from the cavity of the chicken and squeeze the juices into the pan. Discard the lemon. Put the roasting pan on a medium heat and boil to reduce a little. Add the balsamic vinegar and stir. Add the cornflour slurry and stir until thickened slightly. Season to taste.

Remove the stuffing from the chicken and spoon it into a dish. Carve the chicken and serve it with the stuffing and gravy on the side.