Chicken Legs Stuffed Derby Style Food

STUFFED CHICKEN LEG RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Heat oil in large skillet on medium heat. Add zucchini and onion; cook and stir 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Remove from heat. Stir in water, stuffing mix and cheese until well blended. Cover and set aside.
• Insert your fingers carefully between the meat and skin of each chicken leg to form a pocket. Fill pockets evenly with the stuffing mixture. Place, filled sides up, in shallow baking pan.
• Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

STUFFED CHICKEN LEGS WITH MUSHROOMS AND CHEESE

Steps:

• Heat 20g/¾oz of the butter and 1 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the mushrooms and garlic and fry for about 10 minutes until the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool.
• Mix the cream cheese, Comté, parsley and thyme in a bowl. Stir in the cooled mushrooms and season generously with salt and pepper.
• Place a chicken leg skin-side down. Feel for the thigh bone with your fingers then, with a sharp knife, carefully cut down through the flesh either side of the bone. With the tip of the knife, cut around the bone and scrape away the flesh, leaving the bone as clean as possible. Twist the bone at the joint with the drumstick and, with scissors or a knife, cut out the thigh bone, leaving the drumstick bone in place.
• Fill the cavity left by the bone with a sixth of the mushroom stuffing. Secure the chicken flesh around the stuffing using a few cocktail sticks, . Brush the skin with the remaining olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Repeat with the rest of the chicken legs.
• Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6. Heat the remaining butter in a frying pan and brown the chicken legs. Transfer to a roasting tin and roast for 25-30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. The chicken is cooked when the juices run clear with no trace of pink when the thickest part of the leg is pierced with a skewer.
• Remove the chicken from the pan and add the chicken stock into the pan to deglaze. Scrape the pan to get all the flavour into the gravy.
• Remove the cocktail sticks and serve with the gravy, mashed potatoes and cooked green beans.

STUFFED CHICKEN LEGS WITH BACON

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
• For the chicken, remove any adjoining backbone and knuckles from the chicken legs, if necessary. Using a very sharp knife cut down the length of the bones on the inside and ease the flesh away, taking care not to cut the skin. Discard the bones. You will be left with tapering rectangles of meat. To flatten them, lay them skin-side down on a chopping board, cover with cling film and bash with a rolling pin.
• For the stuffing, mix together the breadcrumbs, sliced mortadella, nutmeg, parsley and garlic. Beat the eggs, season with salt and pepper and mix in to the other ingredients.
• Place a spoonful of the stuffing in the middle of each rectangle of chicken. Fold the rectangle into a sausage-shaped parcel. Put a piece of bacon lengthwise along each 'sausage' to close the join and fold over the end to close the parcel. Secure with kitchen string to make an even shape and to prevent the stuffing leaking.
• Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan or casserole and fry the stuffed chicken legs on all sides, until browned. Transfer to the oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until cooked through.
• Heat a large sauté or frying pan and add the oil. Once hot, add the garlic and chilli and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the spinach and a splash of water and cook until wilted.
• To serve, remove the string and leave the chicken parcels to cool slightly before carving into thick slices. Serve with the spinach alongside. They are equally good served cold.

CHICKEN LEGS STUFFED WITH MORELS AND STEAMED (ET FARCI AUX MORILLES)

Steps:

• Put dried mushrooms in small bowl and add warm water to cover. Let stand 30 minutes or longer until thoroughly softened. Drain. Squeeze mushrooms to extract excess liquid. Chop coarsely and set aside.
• Do not separate legs from thighs. Using paring or boning knife, carefully cut down to bone of each thigh. Do not cut through skin. Starting at top of each thigh, cut and scrape flesh from bone, working downward as neatly as possible; leave bone bare. Work down around leg bone, scraping almost to bottom of it. Leave leg bone tip - 1/2 inch or slightly more - intact. As legs and thighs are boned, set aside, skin side out.
• Cut chicken breast into thin slices. Stack slices and cut into very small, thin strips. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Heat one tablespoon of butter in small skillet and add shallots, stirring. Add chicken pieces and cook, stirring to separate pieces, about 2 minutes or until meat loses raw look. Add fresh and dried mushrooms. Stir.
• Add chicken broth and cook about 30 seconds, stirring. Scrape mixture into mixing bowl. Add beaten egg to filling and blend well. Set aside.
• Meanwhile, heat remaining one tablespoon of butter and add chicken livers. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook over high heat, stirring, about 2 minutes or until the livers lose raw look. Add 1/2 cup of cream and cook, stirring, about 2 minutes. Set aside.
• Remove and chop 2 of chicken liver pieces. Add to filling and stir.
• Place boned chicken legs skin side down on flat surface. Sprinkle interior with salt and pepper. Use small amount of filling at a time and stuff chicken legs, pushing filling down compactly into boned legs. Fill legs compactly at center, folding boned thighs over to enclose filling.
• Lay out 4 large squares of plastic wrap, a square at a time. Wrap filled legs and thighs to enclose filling. As each piece is wrapped, fold wrapping tightly to keep stuffed pieces intact. Arrange bundles in one layer in top of steamer rack and set aside.
• Combine brown chicken base and remaining cup of cream and bring to boil. Cook down over high heat until reduced to about one cup of sauce.
• Pour into container of electric blender (food processor will not work as well). Add remaining chicken liver pieces plus cream in which they cooked. Blend on high speed to make smooth as possible.
• Pour sauce into small saucepan.
• Place stuffed chicken legs in their rack onto steamer filled half full with water. Cover steamer rack closely and let stuffed chicken legs stand over boiling water about 20 minutes or until done.
• Carefully remove stuffed legs, one at a time, from the plastic wrap.
• Spoon a little sauce onto center of each of 4 hot serving plates and place chicken leg in center. Or serve sauce spooned over chicken legs. Serve remaining sauce separately.

CHICKEN LEGS STUFFED DERBY-STYLE

Steps:

• Prepare the chicken legs. Sprinkle them inside and out with salt and pepper, and set aside.
• Prepare the mushrooms and livers.
• Heat the butter in a small skillet, and add the mushrooms and livers. Cook briefly, stirring, about one minute.
• Add the shallots and cook, stirring, about 30 seconds. Add the wine and stir. Add salt and pepper. Add the rice and stir to blend. Cook about 30 seconds and remove from the heat. Let cool.
• Stuff each chicken leg with an equal portion of the filling. Carefully fold over the boned thighs to enclose the filling.
• Lay out four squares of plastic wrap, one square at a time. Place one stuffed leg in the center and carefully fold the plastic wrap to enclose the stuffed pieces. Wrap securely.
• Place the stuffed chicken legs in one layer in the top rack of a steamer. Set aside. Bring enough water to the boil in the bottom of the steamer to steam the chicken legs when added.
• When ready to cook, place the chicken legs over the steamer and cover closely. Let the legs steam for about 20 minutes or until done. Serve with cream of chicken sauce. One serving suggestion: Spoon a little of the sauce onto a hot plate, top with the stuffed leg and sprinkle with chopped parsley.