It’s been a while since my last post, and the main reason is that I was invited to contribute to the local online magazine, Smile Politely. I wrote about our family trip to the Mansfield Mushroom Festival. You can find my story there, cleverly titled (by my editor) “Morel mushroom madness close to home.” Here’s a video of the morel auctioneer:

Meanwhile, tons of pictures and post ideas have backed up. I’m going to review Michael Ruhlman’s new book, Ratio. I have some recipes that I’ve developed from that book, as well as some other cooking experiences to share. I’d love to hear what you want me to write about. Send me an email or leave a comment with your suggestions.

Now, you may have seen my stuffed chicken recipe from a previous post. That same weekend, I made a classic dish that I remember fondly from my childhood. When I was a kid, my mom would get Chicken Kiev from our school’s Market Day sale. Every once in a while, we’d pop one out of the freezer, and after waiting far too long, the crunchy tube of chicken emerged from the oven. These things were amazing–crunchy (even better if it was a little over-done), with an obscene amount of buttery goodness inside. It was best when it didn’t leak out, so you could sop it up with whatever else you had on your plate.

Chicken Kiev

It’s a classic dish, so there are plenty of recipes out there for it. I’m sure the dish of my childhood was made with processed, mechanically re-formed meat. Don’t get me wrong, it was still delicious, but this is a slightly more natural version.

Compound butter

• 1 stick (or 8T or 4 oz.) butter, slightly softened
• 0-2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 c fresh parsley, chopped
• 1t salt (less if using salted butter)

Breading & frying

• 4 chicken breasts, butterflied and pounded flat
• 2 eggs
• 2T water
• 2 c panko breadcrumbs (regular breadcrumbs are fine)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• peanut or vegetable oil, for shallow frying

1. Put all the compound butter ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well blended.
2. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm.
3. Beat eggs, water, and salt and pepper, to taste, in a shallow dish.
4. In another shallow dish, season panko with salt and pepper.
5. Lay one chicken breast flat, put 2T of the compound butter on it in a log shape.
6. Wrap the breast around the butter, enclosing it completely.
7. Dip the chicken in the eggs, to coat, then roll in the breadcrumbs to coat. Repeat once more.
8. Repeat with the rest of the chicken.
9. Heat 1/2 – 1″ of oil in a skillet over medium heat to around 375 deg F.
10. Carefully put chicken in the pan, avoid overcrowding.
11. Cook 4-5 minutes a side, or until internal temperature is over 165 deg F.

I served it with some sauteed kale that I had also picked up at the Prairie Fruits Farm sale. Sure, you could probably bake these to make them a little healthier, but you do realize that they’re filled with butter, right? Speaking of which, compound butters are great for many purposes. I had extra from making this and tossed it in with some steamed potatoes. Yum.

Tags: chicken, fried, kale, morel, rolled, stuffed

This entry was posted on Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 11:32 AM and is filed under Cooking, recipe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.