Boneless stuffed chicken

We will start cooking with the filling. Pour a glass of boiling water over the buckwheat and leave it covered to swell. We do not need to cook the grain until fully done. The peculiarity of this filling is that during the baking process, the half-cooked buckwheat will absorb the juices and aromas of the other filling components.

Shred the fresh cabbage into strips and the onion into half-rings. In a hot skillet, melt the butter, add both types of cabbage and onion, and add a little rosemary. Cook the cabbage on low heat until soft for literally 5 minutes. Even if it doesn’t finish cooking, it’s not a problem. Leave it covered in a warm place, as we need it hot for the filling.

Squeeze the juice from the whole orange and add it to the cabbage. Do not add the orange itself with the peel to the filling, as it will add bitterness. You can place the peel on the baking sheet next to the chicken so it gives a bright aroma to the bird.

Prepare the chicken for further work. The difficulty of this dish is that we need to remove the bone structure from the bird, leaving the wing and thigh bones. Start separating the meat from the bone from the back of the chicken. Be sure to use only a very sharp knife. Carefully cut the meat starting from the keel bone and proceed further. In the chest area, you can use your hands to assist. Cut the shoulder joints, then the thigh joints. Move to the back area, and then, turning the chicken inside out, separate the meat from the wishbone. Cut off the neck and remove the esophagus. The main difficulty of such disassembly is not to tear the skin of the chicken. Even if you roughly disassemble the chicken from the inside, it’s not a problem at all. When disassembling the bird, do not cut off the tail, as it will be useful for securing the skin.

Now we will need very thin skewers or toothpicks. First, we secure the hole in the neck area: we make a skin fold and pierce it with a skewer. Instead of skewers, you can simply sew the skin with regular thread.

Combine the hot cabbage with the buckwheat, add pepper, and salt the filling to taste. We put this filling inside the chicken. Stuff it tightly enough so that the bird retains its original shape. Then again make a skin fold and secure it with a toothpick or thread.

Now take a rope and tie the wings in the breast area. With a second rope, tie the legs together, and then wrap it around the tail and tie the ends of the rope at the belly.

Place the chicken carcass on a baking sheet and drizzle it with oil. Sprinkle salt on top and rub lightly, distributing it over the entire chicken. To prevent the top from burning, place a sheet of foil over the bird for the first 25 minutes of baking. Send it to the oven at 180 degrees with the “top-bottom” mode.

After 25-30 minutes, remove the chicken and take off the foil, change the oven mode to “top”. In a bowl, mix honey and soy sauce. Brush the chicken with this sauce on all sides and place it back in the oven for 5-7 minutes. Then remove it, brush it with the sauce again, and bake for another 5 minutes.

The boneless stuffed chicken is ready! Before serving, cut the ropes and remove the skewers, as the baked chicken holds its shape well. Enjoy your meal!