If you read my blog you know by now that I love to buy whole chickens and hardly EVER buy parts, unless the occasional thigh package if I'm making a curry or something. This is so economical to me as I use every part of the chicken, and today I'm showing you how I use the skins. After saving many skins from many chickens by gently taking them apart I collected them in my freezer and decided to whip them out for a special treat. Other times we do a crackle crispy chip by simply cutting them up in squares and baking on a sheet with some spices and a drizzle of oil to crip them up (the skin has oil/ fat in it but you need to get it sizzling) It's absolutely delicious!
This is an arabic style stuffing rice mixture that, in my opinion, has it all! Rice, meat, veggies and delicious dried fruits and nuts. It's a cross between a stuffing recipe and an Iraqi biryani. I'm using round rice and cooking the rice with ground beef (or lamb) first along with peas and then separately preparing small cubes of fried potatoes and carrot and finally pan fried dried fruits like raisins (you could add dried currants too, or apricots) and the addition of toasted nuts (almonds and pine nuts)
The directions below are pretty easy to follow from the photos. For the chicken breast I simply flatten it out and marinade in a mixture of lemon juice and worstershire sauce as well as some salt for seasoning. The chicken skins are good as is and I use a small bowl to lay the skin in and fill up with rice then close like a small pouch. Use a tooth pick to fasten if needed and then flip it out onto a pan and bake. I like to bake chicken on a high temperature so 400-425 F is ideal and you want to cook it well so that the chicken is cooked through properly. With regards to the stuffed chicken skin you cook until it's crispy, remember to brush with a little butter or oil before baking and sprinkle with salt.
