Recipe : Bacon Wrapped Roast Chicken

For Christmas this year, I wanted to make a special roast. I'd seen a picture of a Bacon Wrapped Roast Chicken somewhere on the web and thought it was a great idea, especially since everything tastes "Better with Bacon". The picture I saw, didn't have a recipe, so I just decided to upgrade my Roast Chicken with Duxelles

Ingredients:
1 roasting chicken with skin - around 1kg
1 quantity duxelles (from 400gm mushrooms) at room temperature
1 tsp salt
juice of 1 lime
200 gm packet of bacon (with some fat at least)

Method:
Clean the chicken well, especially the inside and dry
Rub the chicken with a mixture of lemon juice and salt, both inside and outside and keep for 10-15 minutes.
Stuff the chicken with the duxelles and if you can get the skin loose, pack some duxelles between the skin and the flesh.
(My butcher here in Ahmedabad, ends up tearing the skin when he de-feathers the chicken and unless I clean my chicken myself, I have to make do with what I'm given)

Note: When making the duxelles for this dish, I added some finely chopped bacon to the mix too.

Wrap the chicken with bacon slices, in any pattern you choose. I tried the checkerboard pattern to try and match the picture that I had seen, but since the bacon I bought wasn't in straight lines, it doesn't look as neat as the original picture I had seen.

I also used 2 extra legs in the dish, so there would be enough thighs and drumsticks to go around the table.

The chicken does not need basting, because the fat from the bacon will keep it nice and moist.

Roast in a preheated oven at 200C for about an hour and a half.
Keep an eye on the chicken as it roasts and increase or decrease the time as needed.

You can serve your chicken completely cooked but moist, or slightly crispy. We liked the bacon slightly crisped up.

Serve hot with a herby Italian bread or a simple pasta.

Variation :
1/2 kg boneless chicken breasts
4 tbsps cream cheese
1/2 tsp black pepper freshly crushed
1 tsp mixed herbs
6 slices bacon
salt to taste

Method:
Flatten & then marinate the chicken for 15 minutes in salt and pepper.
Fold the herbs into the cream cheese.
Layer an oven proof bowl with the chicken, the cream cheese and the bacon on top.
Bake in a preheated oven at 200C for about 45 minutes..