Stuffed Chicken Breasts 2.0

Had a couple chicken breasts I needed to cook and had some leftover mascarpone and ricotta cheese from crostadas.  I wanted something “else” in the stuffing compared to last time, so lacking fine imported Italian prosciutto, I opted for bacon.  (Good bacon mind you, not the packaged stuff.)

Here we go:

• (2) boneless skinless chicken breasts trimmed of “goobers” and sliced open on one side to form a pocket
• Equal parts mascarpone and ricotta cheese (see notes below), about 1/4 cup each or less.
• Parsley
• Tarragon, rosemary, or chervil  (see notes below)
• 1 slice thick good bacon or prosciutto cut into small dice or strips
• salt and pepper
• Peeled and sliced apple
• sliced onion
• Chicken broth
• Olive oil

Brown bacon or prosciutto in a little olive oil.  Remove to a paper towel.  Sauté to almost brown the onion in the bacon pan and drippings.  Remove onions to cooking pot and layer apple slices on top.

Meanwhile… mix cheese and spices and bacon together in a bowl with your hands and stuff into chicken breasts.  Salt and pepper both sides of chicken and quickly brown stuffed chicken breasts on both sides carefully in bacon/onion pan after adding some oil.  Remove and place chicken on onions and apples.  Add about 1/3 cup chicken broth, cover and cook in 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

Notes:

1. I used a clay pot which works wonders in these scenarios, leaving the meat moist and tender, since the terra cotta is permeable, it steams instead of boils.  For clay pots you start it in a cold oven and cook at 425.  I cooked for 40 minutes but it was probably 5 minutes too long.
2. I used a ratio of 1:3 ricotta to mascarpone since that was all the ricotta I had, but it was a bit rich, thus the 1:1 ratio above.  Feel free to experiment.
3. I used 2 slices of bacon but it was a little bit too much, thus the one slice above.  Once again, feel free…
4. I used dried parsley flakes and dried tarragon, probably about 1.5 TBs and 2 tsp each.  The tarragon came through a little strong so I would cut that back next time.  Fresh herbs would definitely be preferred.

This turned out rich, tender and flavorful, pretty much what I was hoping for surprisingly enough.

The carrots you see below I did in the same frying pan as everything else (I like minimizing the number of pans to wash).  I deglazed with some dry vermouth, added about 2 TBs butter, and about 1/3 cup broth and then simmered the carrots covered for about 15 minutes, uncovering the last 5 minutes to reduce the sauce.  (the bacon and the chicken both add salt and pepper to the pan so no additional seasoning was required.)

 

In the clay pot.  Onions and apples are below.

Plated with carrots.

Crostata, Crostini, Oh My.

This past week Jeannine enjoyed a Crostata from the ex-chef home-ec teacher at CPSC.  Jeannine thinks she called it a Crostini, but we are pretty sure it was really a savory Crostata.  What’s the diff?  Well it appears that a Crostini is basically something built on some sort of toasted bread, and a Crostata is a dough based mini open- faced pastry thingy, usually sweet, but sometimes savory.

We did some googling of recipes and combined some things into what you see below.  This recipe has great potential for variation on the filling side, so feel free to experiment.  We plan to.

Dough (makes 2 individual servings):

• 1.5 cups bread flour (like King Arthur)
• 3 Tbs butter (room temp)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1.5 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese

Pulse dough ingredients in a food processer until dough pulls together .  Make into 2 equal balls and roll out on floured surface.  Place on parchment covered baking sheets.  Put filling in middle, roll/fold up edges about 1/2+ inches and bake at 375 for about 30 minutes until crust is golden brown.  Let rest for about 15 minutes and devour.

Filling (Arne’s version) makes ONE of the two Crostata’s:

• 1/4 cup ricotta
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan, mozzarella, fotina, romano mix, or similar.
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh spinach
• 1 oz small diced prosciutto
• 1 medium leek, white and light green parts thinly sliced
• 1-2 mushrooms sliced

Mix first three ingredients above and put on rolled out crust.  Sauté last three ingredients until leeks are soft and place on top of prior ingredients before baking.  Variation would be to sauté/caramelize leeks, then add prosciutto.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

I had some extra ricotta cheese and two boneless skinless chicken breasts in the refrig.   So here we go.  (I apologize in advance for the imprecise measurements.)

• (2) boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup or so grated parmesan (used for both stuffing and coating)
• 2 thick pieces of cooked bacon chopped
• thyme
• parsley flakes (or fresh)
• salt and pepper
• flour
• panko
• egg

Trim breasts of tenderloin and any other “weirdness”.  Cut a pocket in each.

Mix ricotta, parmesan (reserve some for coating), bacon, and then thyme, parsley, salt and pepper to taste.   (The parsley adds color so just keep adding until the mixture looks good.)

Stuff chicken breasts.  Coat first with flour, then with beaten egg, and then with a panko/parmesan/pepper mix.

Bake at 350 on a pan with parchment paper for about 30 - 40 minutes until done.

Could have used a little more fat so I think I would add some butter to the stuffing next time.  Could substitute fresh rosemary for thyme.