Southwest roast chicken - country living

6 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 pack (8-oz) cornbread stuffing mix
1 can (8 3/4-oz) whole-kernel corn, drained
2 tablespoons Chopped fresh cilantro or parsley leaves
1 5- to 6-lb roasting chicken
¼ teaspoon Plus 1 T chili powder
1¼ teaspoon Ground cumin
1¼ teaspoon Paprika
1¼ teaspoon Salt
4 tablespoons Olive oil
1 Ancho pepper (see Note)
2 larges Red onions, thinly sliced
2 larges Yellow onions, thinly sliced
1 can (4-oz) diced mild green chilies, drained
3 Cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 Fresh red or green jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
½ cup Dry white wine
1 small Ripe avocado
Additional red jalapeno peppers for garnish (opt.)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375'F. Prepare corn-bread stuffing mix following package directions; stir in corn and cilantro.

2. Remove neck and giblets from chicken and freeze for use in another recipe. Rinse and dry chicken, carefully drying inside with paper towels. Spoon enough stuffing to fill body cavity loosely (place remaining stuffing in small, ovenproof casserole and bake last half hour of roasting time.) Sprinkle ¼ t each chili powder, cumin, paprika, and salt over skin of bird; rub in spices with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Tie drumsticks together; place chicken, breast side up, on small wire rack in large shallow roasting pan. Roast 45 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, prepare pepper and onion mixture: Break ancho pepper into quarters; remove and discard seeds. In small bowl, cover ancho quarters with hot water and set aside 10 minutes to soften. In large bowl, combine red and yellow onions, green chilies, garlic, and chopped jalapeno. Add remaining 3 T olive oil, 1 T chili powder, and 1 t each cumin, paprika, and salt; toss well to blend spices.

Coarsely chop softened ancho and stir into onion-and-spice mixture.

4. After chicken has roasted 45 minutes, add wine and enough water to cover bottom of roasting pan. Spread onion mixture evenly around chicken in pan. Return chicken to oven and roast 1 hour longer, occasionally stirring onion mixture and basting chicken with pan juices. Remove chicken from oven when juices run clear, not pink, when thickest part of thigh is pierced with a fork. Let roast chicken stand 15 minutes.

5. Just before serving, transfer roasted onion mixture in pan to large serving plat- ter. Pcel, seed, and chop avocado and combine with onion mixture. Place chicken in center of platter; garnish with red jalapenos, if desired. Serve immediately, along with remaining stuffing.

Note: Ancho peppers (fresh poblano peppers that have been dried) are mildly spicy-about a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10. For less heat, try other dried chilies such as New Mexican yellow, orange, brown, or red peppers. To increase the spiciness of this recipe, use more red or green jalape- no peppers.

Nutritional information per serving with stuffing- protein: 60 grams; fat: 36 grams; carbohydrate: 30 grams; fiber: 6 grams; sodium: 963 milligrams; cholesterol: 169 milligrams; calories: 704.

Country Living/June/93 Scanned & fixed by DP & GG

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