Shelly's Recipe

DIXIE-STUFFED CHICKEN LEGS

Category: Chicken

Apricot-Rum Barbecue Sauce
1/2 cup minced onion
1 tbsp minced fresh gingerroot
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup apricot preserves
1/2 cup dark rum
1/2 cup prepared barbecue sauce
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

Stufffing
4 strips thick-sliced bacon, diced
3 cups stemmed and chopped collard or mustard greens
1/2 cup diced onion
2/3 cup fresh corn kernels
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
3 Tbsp. low-sodium chicken broth
1 jalapeño chile pepper, seeded and minced
1 cup crumbled cornbread
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
Kosher salt to taste

Chicken
8 chicken hindquarters
Extra-virgin olive oil, kosher salt, and black pepper

Prepare Apricot Rum Barbecue Sauce. Saute onion and gingerroot in oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add preserves, rum, barbecue sauce, lime juice, and red pepper flakes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer sauce about 20 minutes or until thickened. Reserve 1/2 cup sauce to serve as dipping sauce. Use remaining sauce (about 1 cup) for basting the chicken during grilling.

Set aside 1 cup sauce for basting the chicken; reserve remainder in a separate container for dipping.

Stuffing: Saute bacon in a pan over medium heat until crisp, about 10 minutes. Spoon off all but 1 Tbsp. rendered bacon fat. Add greens and onions to pan and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add corn, bell pepper, broth, and jalapeño to bacon mixture; cook 2 minutes. Off heat, add cornbread, cayenne, and salt. Let stuffing cool to room temperature, then chill for 20 minutes.

Bone chicken. Place 1/3 cup mounded stuffing in each thigh, making sure there is at least 1-inch of meat all the way around. Wrap thigh around stuffing to cover. Tie thighs with butchers twine at 1-inch intervals to secure stuffing. Make the knots snug, but not so tight they squeeze the stuffing out. Coat chicken lightly with oil and season with salt and pepper.

Grill chicken covered over direct medium-high heat for 10–15 minutes on each side. Baste chicken with Apricot-Rum Barbecue Sauce, flip over, and baste the other side. Reduce heat to low; cook until sauce is bubbling and caramelized, about 2–3 minutes. Before serving legs, snip strings with kitchen shears and remove. Serve with grilled vegetables and reserved sauce on the side for dipping.