Deb’s Kitchen | Mediterranean stuffed chicken with warm tomato sauce

By Deb Quinn

Jun 25, 2024

Debbie Quinn shares her cherished family recipes with the Goulburn Valley’s home cooks. Photo by Rechelle Zammit

Debbie Quinn has a lifelong love of food and cooking, nurtured in her parents’ restaurants and in her own family’s kitchen. Every fortnight she shares her passion and expertise with our readers, bringing her best recipes, tips and tricks to the table.

*Your guests will return for more after sampling this chicken dish.* Photo by Contributed

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This recipe uses chicken Marylands, which are very economical and have a lovely juicy flavour. It also features a luscious Mediterranean filling and is topped off with a silky, fresh, warm tomato sauce that perfectly complements the filling. It’s easy to make and is a real crowd-pleaser.

Chicken ingredients

4 chicken Maryland

60g butter (you can use ½ olive oil and butter or just olive oil if you wish)

1 onion finely diced

½ green pepper finely diced

½ red pepper finely diced

250g zucchini grated

1 cup fresh breadcrumbs

1 egg

2 tablespoons grated pecorino or Parmesan cheese

Sea salt and cracked pepper to taste

Basting chicken

30g butter

1 flat tsp dry mustard

1 tsp French mustard

1 tbsp olive oil

Sauce

3 ripe tomatoes

30g butter

1 tsp caster sugar

1 tsp tomato paste

1 tbsp cream

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Filling

Melt butter in a non-stick pan. Add diced onion and peppers, simmer on low heat until tender, stirring occasionally for about 8 minutes. Add the grated zucchini to the pan and sauté for another 2 to 3 minutes until the zucchini has softened. Remove from heat, place in a bowl and let cool for 15 minutes. Then add the breadcrumbs, lightly beaten egg, salt, pepper and grated cheese. Refrigerate until cold.

Stuffing chicken

Using your fingers, loosen the skin around the chicken in between the flesh and the skin, and be careful not to break the skin. Work the filling with a teaspoon in between the flesh and the skin working the stuffing down the drumstick and underneath all the skin of the chicken thigh (it should be lovely and plump). Pat dry with a paper towel and refrigerate uncovered until ready to bake. You can create a mood for this job with the 1930’s Cole Porter song “I’ve got you under my skin” sung by Frank Sinatra.

Basting and baking

Mix melted butter, dry mustard, and French mustard together. Brush this mixture over the chicken before baking. Drizzle the olive oil into a baking tray, place the Marylands on the tray and bake in a moderate oven for about 40 minutes until golden on top.

Tomato Sauce

Roughly chop the tomatoes. Melt butter in a saucepan; add tomatoes, salt, pepper, sugar, and tomato paste. Cover the pan, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain tomatoes in a sieve, pressing down with the back of a spoon to get as much pulp through as possible. Return to the saucepan, add the cream, and reheat gently just prior to serving.

To present the dish, plate up the chicken and spoon some of the tomato sauce over the stuffed Maryland. I recommend serving this dish with crispy roast potatoes and fresh sugar snap peas.

Deb’s tips

Stuffing the chicken is simple. All you are trying to achieve is plenty of filling between the flesh and the skin of the chicken. Gently massaging in between the flesh and the skin with your fingers releases the skin from the chicken, allowing you to push the stuffing underneath the skin, covering the whole surface of Maryland. This keeps the stuffing beautiful and moist, and the skin ends up crispy.

Sugar snap peas

For the snap peas: Make sure you take the strings off both sides of the snap peas using a vegetable knife. To cook snap peas, bring a small pot of water to a boil, add snap peas, and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Drain, keeping about 1 tbsp of the vegetable water. Then simply add a little butter and ½ tsp massel chicken stock powder. You can do this ahead of time and warm them in the microwave for 1 minute when you are ready to serve the dish. Alternately, use your favourite green vegetable.

Crispy roast potatoes

Peel and quarter or half the potatoes, depending on how big they are. Simmer the potatoes in salted water for around 8 minutes. Drain, letting the steam evaporate, then toss them around a little to break them up. Put a ¼ cup plain flour on a large plate, season with salt and pepper and toss the potatoes around, shaking off the excess flour. This will give them a lovely crunchy crust.

Preheat the oven to 180c. Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil on a non-stick tray and place it in the oven for 4 to 5 minutes. Once the oil is hot, remove the tray from the oven very carefully… (Very carefully, the oil will be really hot.) Roll the potatoes in the hot oil, then bake in a moderate oven for around 30 minutes, turning occasionally. Alternatively, you can heat the oil in a small pot and pour it over the potatoes.