Lebanese Roast Chicken with Parsnip-Rice and Beef Stuffing

Some dishes carry a whole family's history at the table, and this one rebuilds a traditional Lebanese stuffed chicken so that history can keep showing up on your plate while you are eating this way.

Riced parsnip stands in for the rice the original dish uses, and a warm cinnamon, clove, and mint profile carries the same familiar spice notes the dish is known for. The stuffing simmers in bone broth, which brings collagen and glycine involved in supporting the gut lining, and the ground beef adds iron and protein the body draws on for repair.

A whole chicken is a whole life given for this meal. Dry the skin, rub it well, salt it generously, and let the oven turn it deep gold. Serve it at the center of the table the way the dish was always meant to be served, with people gathered around it.

Ingredients

Stuffing:

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 onion, diced
• 6 large parsnips, riced (in place of the rice the traditional dish uses)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon, divided
• 1/16 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 tablespoons dried mint
• 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup bone broth
• 1 tablespoon lard, for cooking
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• no cumin, no coriander seed, no allspice, no cardamom; the warmth comes from cinnamon, clove, and mint instead, which keeps it Core
• pine nuts omitted, since nuts are not used during elimination

Chicken:

• 1 whole pasture-raised chicken, about 3 pounds
• 1 tablespoon lard
• half a lemon
• 4 sprigs fresh oregano
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Method

• Rice the parsnips in a food processor until they look like coarse grains.
• Brown the beef in a pan. Take it off the heat and season it with half the cinnamon, the trace of cloves, and salt. Set it aside.
• Caramelize the onion in lard. Add the riced parsnip and steam it with some of the broth for a few minutes until it softens. Fold in the mint, the rest of the cinnamon and clove, the granulated garlic, the remaining broth, a squeeze of lemon, and the browned beef. Cook until the liquid is absorbed, then set the stuffing aside.
• Heat the oven to 400 F. Dry the chicken skin and cavity thoroughly, rub the bird all over with lard, and salt it inside and out. Tuck the lemon half and the oregano and rosemary into the cavity, truss the legs, and set the chicken on a rack so air moves underneath it.
• Roast about 55 minutes for a 3 pound bird, adding roughly 15 minutes for each extra pound, until the breast reaches 170 F. Rest it in the turned-off oven 10 minutes, then on the counter 10 minutes more before carving. Finish with a squeeze of the roasted lemon, and serve with the warm stuffing.

*Adapted from grazed-and-enthused*