British Bites: Oat-Stuffed Chicken Legs
From Serious Eats
This quick chicken dish is a more modern variation of the Scottish preparation sometimes called howtowdie, which features a whole chicken stuffed with oats and served over spinach and poached eggs. Here, I’ve use exclusively chicken legs and added some quickly sautéed mushrooms to the oat filling. Serve it with roasted vegetables and a dollop of good mustard for a satisfying, simple supper.
Ask your butcher to remove the thighbone from your chicken legs, or do it yourself by carefully cutting along the thigh bone while keeping the meat and skin attached.
If you’d rather use a whole chicken, simply double the oat portion of the recipe.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium shallots, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
10 ounces button mushrooms, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup chicken stock
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 medium onions, chopped (about 2 cups)
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 chicken legs, thigh bone removed
Procedures
1
Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 425º. Heat butter in a large skillet over medium high heat until melted. Add shallots and cook until beginning to brown, about 4 minutes. Add rosemary, and chopped mushrooms. Cook stirring often until mushrooms release their liquid and begin to brown, about 8 minutes. Add oats and toast for 1 minutes then add chicken stock and cook until liquid has been absorbed, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper. Allow to cool to room temperature.
2
Place onions in the bottom of a roasting pan and toss with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Divide the filling between the pocket of each chicken thigh where the bone was removed. Place chicken on top of onions seam side down and roast until the chicken is golden brown and an instant read thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 165°F, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
About the author: Sydney Oland lives in Somerville, Mass. Find more information at sydneyoland.com (or read eatingnosetotail.com)
Every recipe we publish is tested, tasted, and Serious Eats-approved by our staff.
[Photograph: Sydney Oland]
For more on this story go to:
