Cajun Stuffed Chicken
Bourbon Street breaks down how to make a Cajun stuffed chicken
Instructions:
Thaw and Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
The Cornbread Seafood Stuffing ingredients consists of:
• Self-rising white cornmeal mix: Saves time and give you that familiar cornbread flavor.
•Eggs, buttermilk, and melted butter: They give the cornbread great texture and flavor.
Once your cornbread is baked, cooled, and crumbled, you'll make the dressing. Here's what you'll need for that:
• Butter: Used for its richness and to help sauté the vegetables.
• Celery and sweet onions: They give the dish more texture and vegetal flavors.
• Fresh sage: This is the main flavor component; it might seem like too much, but it's not.
• Stale French breadcrumbs: Make these from a loaf of French bread, pulsed in the food processor.
• Fresh eggs: They bind the dressing.
• 1 cup diced cooked shrimp.
• 1 cup diced cooked crawfish tails.
• Chicken stock: Gives the cornbread dressing poultry flavor.
Cooking Instructions
Step 1. Crumble the cornbread. Cool completely, then crumble the bread, and let it dry out a bit while you assemble the rest of the dish. (If you use your own cornbread recipe, make sure you have 12 cups of crumbles. Otherwise, the ratios for this recipe will be off.)
Step 2. Lightly grease a 9- by 13- inch casserole dish and an 8-inch square baking dish to bake your dressing.
Step 3. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Step 4. In a large sauté pan, melt the butter, sauté the celery, onions, diced shrimp and diced crawfish tails. Let them get soft and sweet before stirring in the fresh sage, and sauté that for a minute to release the flavorful oils in the leaves.
Step 5. In a large bowl, combine the cornbread crumbles, fresh French breadcrumbs, and eggs, and stir to combine before mixing in the chicken stock and pepper, then adding the sautéed celery mixture.
Step 6. Spread the mixture in the prepared pans.
Step 7. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until set and golden.
Step 8. Then, stuff the chicken in the deboned legs and cavity. About 1 inch thick in the cavity.