This is the recipe I am making for Valentines dinner tonight. I haven't tried it yet but it looks delicious. For added flavor, soak the chicken in a salt brine with an Italian or Mediterranean herb mix. Brine the chicken in 1 gallon of water with 3/4cups salt and whatever herbs or spices you wish to impart their flavor to the meat. This will result in a moist, tender, flavorful bird. Brine your meats whenever possible. Its amazing. Trust me. If you brine your turkey you will never have a dry thanksgiving dinner again.

Serves 6 

1 Roasting chicken
3 tblspn Vegetable oil or butter
1/2 c Blanched, slivered almonds
3/4 c Raw long-grain white rice
1/2 c Dry white wine
1 1/4 c Water
Salt
1 tspn Ground cinnamon
1 pinch Granulated sugar
1/2 c Currants (or Golden Raisins)
Melted butter or veg. oil

Wash and dry the whole chicken, reserving the liver, and set aside. In a
medium saucepan, heat the oil or butter and sauté the almonds and
liver, then remove with a slotted spoon. Chop the liver and set
aside with the nuts. Add the rice to the fat in the pan and sauté
over medium heat, stirring constantly, then pour in the wine, water,
salt, cinnamon, and sugar. Cover and cook for 12 minutes, or until
the rice is almost tender. Stir in the almonds, liver, and currants
and remove the pan from the heat.

Spoon the stuffing into the large cavity of the chicken and close
tightly with skewers. Truss the chicken and brush the surface
lightly with melted butter or oil. Set in a baking pan, breast side
up, and bake for 1 1/4 hours, or until tender, in moderate oven (350
F), turning with 2 wooden spoons every 20 minutes and basting
frequently with drippings. Remove the stuffing from the cavity and
transfer to the center of a warm platter. Carve the chicken and
arrange around the stuffing. Serve warm.

Note: For a popular mainland version, substitute pine nuts, nutmeg,
and a little chopped celery and parsley, and soaked bread for the
almonds, cinnamon, and rice.

If you dont like liver, or shudder at the thought of eating organ meat then just sauté the almonds in butter and follow the recipe from there. If you do not like to eat stuffing that is cooked inside the bird then make the rice and set it aside. When cooking the chicken unstuffed, reduce baking time by 15 minutes. Chopped Greek style olives can also be added to the rice or used as a tasty garnish. If you aren't big into cooking with wine you can use olive juice, water, or chicken stock. A cheap cooking wine would be fine as well, it has a much lower alcohol content, so it cooks off faster.



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