Cranberry Stuffed Thanksgiving Chicken

PREPARATION

Let’s get started by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. As that is warming we can remove the crust from our rye bread. Using about half a loaf we will cut the slices into ¼” cubes. Place the cubes onto a baking sheet and place into the hot oven. Turning the cubes every 5 minutes until they are dry and slightly toasted, this usually takes between 10-15 minutes. Once they are done we will go ahead and add them to a large bowl. As those toast, it’s a good time to slice our leek and garlic. Now let’s crank up the heat on the oven to 450 degrees and allow that to preheat for our chickens. In a large skillet we will melt our butter and add our leek, garlic and salt. Stir for about 2 minutes and add sage, parsley, mustard, thyme, dried cranberries. Remove from the heat and add all skillet mixture into the large bowl with the bread cubes. Stir everything really well and then add the chicken broth to the bowl to help all the seasonings stick to the bread cubes. You can then set this bowl aside as we prepare the chickens.

Pat the birds dry and rub them with butter, season them liberally with salt and pepper. Add the chickens to the roasting pan and start spooning in the stuffing into the bird’s cavity. We can then tie the legs together with kitchen twine. If there is additional stuffing in your pan make sure to cover it with foil so that it doesn’t overcook but leave the chickens exposed. Place them in the oven and allow them to cook for 30 minutes at 450 degrees. Then turn the oven down to 350 degrees and allow them to cook for an additional 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees at the thickest part of the thigh. Transfer birds and any remaining stuffing to a rimmed baking dish to rest. Now we will make a small glaze for the chickens by using the roasting pan the chickens just came out of. We will place it on a burner and add the sweet red wine, chicken broth, and dried cranberries so we can deglaze the pan scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil and allow the sauce to reduce slightly. Add your chickens and stuffing to a serving platter and drizzle the sauce over them.

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