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Thursday, February 26, 2009

Chicken Kiev


No, that's not a fried Twinkie!

It's another recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook that I'd never tried. I found it appealing because I had all the stuff to make it and it could chill overnight so it would be an easy meal to put together the following day.

Chicken Kiev

1 tbsp chopped green onion
1 tbsp snipped fresh parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 of a 1/4-pound stick of butter, chilled
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp water
1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c fine dry bread crumbs
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Salt and black pepper
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp cooking oil

In a small bowl combine green onion, parsley, and garlic; set aside.

Cut chilled butter into four 2-1/2x1/2-inch sticks.

In a shallow bowl stir together egg and water.

Place flour in another shallow bowl.

Place bread crumbs in a third shallow bowl. Set aside.

Place a chicken breast half between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Using a rolling pin pound chicken lightly into a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. Remove plastic wrap.


Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with one-fourth of the green onion mixture.


Place a butter piece in center of chicken piece.


Fold in sides; roll up.


Repeat with remaining chicken.

Coat chicken rolls with flour. Dip in egg mixture; coat with bread crumbs. Dip in egg mixture again; coat with with additional bread crumbs. (Coat ends well to seal in the butter.) Place coated chicken in 2-quart rectangular baking dish.


Cover and chill for 1 to 24 hours.

In a large skillet melt the 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high heat; add oil. Add chilled chicken rolls.


Cook about 5 minutes or until golden brown, turning to brown all sides.
  

Return rolls to the 2-quart rectangular baking dish.

Bake, uncovered, in a 400 degree F oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink (170 degrees F). Spoon any drippings over rolls.


4 servings


Wow, I thought these would be difficult since it's a butter burrito in a chicken wrapper transferred repeatedly. I was impressed simply by the fact they held their shape! Chilling them for 24 hours was likely key.

They tasted good, though I'm not sure I'll make these again. The work:return ratio wasn't that great. Don't get me wrong, they were good, but stuffed chicken breasts are faster and, well, better.

If I do make these again, I'll be sure to pound the breasts thinner. When I rolled them up, I couldn't keep the sides tucked in, so a bunch of the butter simply leaked out. Not that it was a bad thing, it just annoyed me. Also, my butter sticks were too chubby. I have noticed that butter in the west is short and fat, while the sticks in the east are long and skinny. I made the mistake of cutting a chubby stick in half and quartering it. Long and skinny would've helped here, I think.

Cost:
  • chicken: $0.79/lb = about $2.37
  • fresh parsley bunch: $0.59
  • butter: $8/4 lb (at Costco) = $0.13 for 1/4 lb
  • bread crumbs: $4.59 for 160-oz (at Costco) = $0.03/quarter cup
let's throw in another buck to cover the staples and we get for a grand total: $4.12 or $1.03 per serving.

As you could see, we had ours with a baked potato and some glazed carrots. Mmm. They went well with the buttery chicken, that's for sure!


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