- Preparation time
- 60 mins
- Cooking time
- 60 mins
- Difficulty
- Difficult
- Serves
- 6 people
- Meal course
- Dinner
- Posted by
- Posted on
- December 13, 2015
I created this recipe for a ‘Pot-luck’ Christmas dinner with some foodie friends recently.
‘Pot-Luck’ meaning, we had no idea what each other was cooking, the suspense was intoxicating, like opening a surprise gift. The Christmas tragic in me loved it!
This is my usual Christmas Turkey stuffing recipe because I like to stuff my turkey with more turkey, but I casually thought to myself… “Oh Heyyy me, why don’t I stuff a chook instead of a turkey for something cray-cray amazeballs?” and henceforth, my ‘Churkey’ was born.
You can ask your butcher to bone your chook for you, but if you really want to impress the masses, you can D.I.Y. by following my super simple, step-by-step method. Just click on this link; How to bone a chick
Merry Christmas Pot Luckers! xxx
2.5kg Free-range Chicken - fully boned with the bones reserved for making gravy
100gm Baby Spinach
1 Brown Onion
large sprig of fresh Rosemary
Butchers Twine
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
3 tbs Cornflour
Cranberry sauce to serve - See my super easy recipe HERE
Stuffing:
500gms Free-range Turkey mince
1 Brown Onion
1 clove Garlic
1 tsp finely chopped fresh Rosemary
1/2 cup shelled, unsalted Pistachios
1/2 cup dried Cranberries
1/4 cup Cognac (or Brandy if you’re not that fancy)
The best YouTube tutorial I know for tying meat is at the following link; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFIwbUBiRSE
SEE BELOW STEP-BY-STEP PICTURES FOR HELP WITH THIS RECIPE;
Picture #1 - The stuffing ingredients
Picture #2 - The chook ready for stuffing
Picture #3 - The chicken stuffed and ready to roll
Picture #4 - My rolled chook
Picture #5 - My slip knot - or commonly known as a butchers knot. Check out this super easy tutorial on YouTube for some help with this; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsKVXjHsdKg
Picture #6 - Looping the twine
Picture #7 - Tying the meat
Picture #8 - The underside of my Churkey roll
Picture #9 - My finished Churkey roll
Picture #10 - Roasting over a tray in my oven
- To make the stuffing - Finely chop the onion and garlic. heat 2 tbs of oil in a frypan and add the onion and garlic with the finely chopped rosemary. Cook stiring until becoming translucent and then add the pistachios and cranberries. Cook for a further minute, then season well and add the cognac. Cook until the cognac has completely evaporated, then remove from the heat and set aside to cool completely. Once cool, combine the cooked onion mix with the turkey mince, season again and set aside until ready to use. See pic #1
- Lay your boned chook, flesh side up with the breast at the top and thighs at the bottom. Flip the tenderloins over so they are in the middle of the breast, this will even out the chicken - see picture #2. Season generously with salt and pepper, then lay the spinach evenly over the surface of your bird. In an even sausage shape, lay the turkey stuffing horizontally across your bird - see pic #3.
- Starting from the bottom, roll the chook over herself until you have formed a tight roll. The key is to have breast and thigh in each slice once carved - see pic #4
- Using whichever method you find easiest, tie your chicken roll. If you have no idea how to tie meat, I have my favourite video linked above for you. You can also check out my photo's and try to copy me... I begin by tying a slip knot and leaving a small amount of string hanging so I can finish tying the bird at the end - see pic #5 Then I loop the long side of the twine around my right hand, and slip it over the meat like so - see pic #6 I continue looping along the bird, keeping it taught to help facilitate even cooking as well as keeping the stuffing in place - see pic #7 Once I get to the end, I roll my chook over and loop the string through the back of the loops. This will hold them in place during cooking - see pic #8 I then tie the two ends together, and she's done. Yahoo!!! see pic #9
- Pre-heat your fan-forced oven to 200°c.
- Place the reserved chook bones into a heavy based roasting tray with the sliced brown onion, rosemary sprig and 1 ltr of water. Wrap the tray in alfoil and place into the bottom of your oven to cook for 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, Heat up your largest frypan over a high heat and brown your tied chook all over, then place your chook onto a rack over a baking tray and cook for exactly 50 minutes on the top shelf of your oven. Once the chook is cooked, remove from the oven and set aside to rest while you make the gravy.
- Remove the roasting tray with the carcass from your oven. carefully remove all the bones and the rosemary sprig, then using a large spoon, squash and stir the onions into the stock well. Make a smooth paste out of the cornflour by adding a little water, and then stir the paste into the pan. Place the pan over a direct flame, and cook stirring constantly until thickend. Add any tray and resting juices from the Churkey as well. Once thickened, season well and strain into a large jug for serving.
- Carve the 'Churkey' and serve with the pan gravy and my seriously delicious Cranberry sauce. YUMMMMM! Merry Christmas!!!
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