Roast Chicken with Fruited Corn Tortilla Stuffing

Ingredients

3/4 pound Mexican-style (spicy, unsmoked) chorizo sausage
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 cup chopped yellow onions
3 cups day-old (but not dry) corn tortillas, torn into small pieces (about 8 medium tortillas)
3 cups day old (but not dry) firm white peasant-style sourdough bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup (about 4 ounces) coarsely chopped dried apricots
6 long green chiles, roasted, peeled and chopped, or 1 cup frozen chopped roasted green chiles, thawed and drained
1 1/4 cups lightly salted chicken broth
1 egg, well beaten
Freshly ground black pepper
1 (4 to 4 1/2 pound) roasting chicken
Salt

Crumble the chorizo into a cold skillet, set it over medium heat, and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
With a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage to paper towels to drain.
Discard the drippings and wipe the skillet.
Set the skillet over medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons of the oil and the onions and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Cool.
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, combine the tortillas, bread cubes, apricots, green chiles, chorizo and the onions with their oil.
Add the broth and egg and stir.
Season generously with fresh pepper and stir again.
Spoon the stuffing into the cavity of the chicken, packing it lightly.
Pat the chicken dry and set it on a rack in a shallow roasting pan.
Rub the skin with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
Roast the chicken until it is crisp and brown and the juices from a thigh, when pricked at its thickest, run pinkish yellow, 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes.
Let the chicken stand on a rack, tented with foil, for 20 minutes.
Spoon the stuffing out of the chicken and out of the bowl into a serving dish.
Carve the chicken and serve immediately, accompanied by the stuffing.

The El Paso Chile Company