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I’m really not sure why, but for some reason I’ve never roasted a whole chicken. Cornish Hens? Yes, but regular ole’ chickens… no. Today I changed that. It was a pretty easy choice when  I saw chickens on sale at the local grocery store and got one for $4.09. Several recent Sunday meals have been comprised of rotisserie chickens from the local market and we normally pay several dollars for one of them so why not do one of my own!?

About 4 hours ago I pulled it out of the fridge; rinsed it off; and gave it a liberal rub down with lemon juice, salt, pepper, and olive oil. I stuffed the bird with a two quartered lemons and a few springs of rosemary, then nestled it on a bed of quartered red potatoes and smashed garlic cloves drizzled in olive oil. With about an hour to go I threw in some broccoli and tossed it around with the potatoes. Served it with some crusty bread and butter. Simple yes, tasty – absolutely.

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I feel confident if I went back to legacy LeslieShearer.com that I would find a post about this, so I will go and try to dig it up (if it exists) and will provide an abbreviated version here.

Nearly my favorite thing to eat that my dad fixes is called Stuffed Rolled Chicken. When he cooked at Michael’s Italian Restaurant in Florence, SC he cooked tons of it and preparing the dish happened to have a distinctive (and loud) sound. One one occasion my mother likes to fondly remember I embarrassed the heck out of her when we were eating there because I heard dad pounding out the chicken breasts (banging a rolling pin on the counter in the restaurant’s kitchen) and hollered out, “There’s My Daddy, Beatin’ That Chicken!” It was funny.

This is top of mind because I decided to fix it for dinner last night. I was even gutsy enough to try and make my own tomato sauce. The recipes are below.

Stuffed Rolled Chicken

Serves 4

Ingredients:
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breast – pounded until thin
- Approx 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 large onion – sliced thin
- 1 green bell pepper – sliced thin
- Spicy brown mustard
- Approx 4 cups tomato sauce (possible recipe below)
- 1 tbs cooking oil

Preparation:
- Squirt two ‘hefty’ stripes of mustard down the center of each chicken breast (long ways)
- Squeeze a tight clump of cheese (large fist-full) and place in center of each chicken breast
- Roll the chicken tightly around the cheese
- In a large saute pan heat cooking oil and saute peppers and onions until semi-soft (medium heat)
- In same skillet brown the outside of of the rolled chicken breasts
- Cover bottom of baking dish with thin layer of tomato sauce (attempt to size a baking dish close to the size to fit all of the rolled chicken)
- Place rolled chicken in baking dish, top with softened peppers and onions
- Cover chicken/onions/peppers with thin layer of sauce
- Lightly cover baking dish with aluminum foil
- Bake at 400 for 20 min
- Remove foil and cover top with remaining cheese and cook until golden brown (approx 8 – 10 min)

Serving:
- Recommend to serve with pasta topped with tomato sauce, garlic bread, and side salad

Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:
- 6 Roma Tomatoes, – quartered
- 1/2 large onion -diced
- 1 bell pepper – diced
- 4 cloves garlic – smashed
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 tbs Italian seasoning
- 1 tbs sugar
- 1 tbs salt
- 1 quart crushed tomatoes
- 2 tbs cooking oil

Preparation:
- Heat cooking oil over medium heat and soften onions and peppers
- Add Roma tomatoes & garlic, cook for approx 5 min
- Add crushed tomatoes, and seasonings
- Simmer for approx 30 min
- Remove bay leaf before serving

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