Hasselback Caprese Chicken

Welcome back!  Time is flying, fall is falling and the garden produce is beginning to get to tired and worn out and cold to make anything more!  Bummer!  I picked the last of my basil, the last of my tomatoes, and decided to close the season with a bang!  This is a dish I have seen around here and there, but I wanted to make it my own way.  I wanted to add some seasonings, and better yet, I wanted to lay them on a bed of creamy, silky, alfredo-like sauce!

This came together in about 15-20 minutes, and another 45 in the oven.  I served it with a side of spaghetti that was lightly buttered, added some parsley, and a drizzle of this awesome sauce!

I gave you kind of an approximation of ingredients.  I wrote it for 4 servings, but for the tomato and basil and cheese it will depend on how thick you cut your slices, AND how many slits you put in the chicken.  See what I am sayin'?

Let's get started!

Cream Sauce:
2 T butter
2 T flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup chicken stock (up to 3/4 depending on how thick or thin you want your sauce)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Melt your butter in a medium saucepan.  Add in your flour and whisk to combine for 1-2 minutes.  Add in milk and chicken stock.  Whisk until slightly thickened and then add in cheese.  Again, whisk until cheese is melted and taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Now, pour this mixture into a 9x13 baking dish.  Also, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F!

Now for the chicken prep you will need:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2=3 large tomatoes
2-8oz balls of mozzarella cheese
20 leaves of fresh basil
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic salt
salt and pepper to taste

Slice your cheese and tomatoes into half moons.  Now take your chicken and slice across it.  Don't go all the way through, just about 3/4 of the way.  Do that to tall of the chicken breasts.  Using your Italian seasoning, and garlic salt, season them up all over.

 You can stuff these however you like.  Where you cut, you will stuff with tomato or mozz cheese. I used a basil leaf in each one, alternating mozz and tomato slices.  When you finish one, carefully place it in the 9x13 pan of cream sauce.  Do this until all chicken is done.

Lightly salt and pepper when all done and place into the oven.  You will need to start checking for doneness at about 35 minutes.  I used large breasts (teehee) and mine took upwards of 45-50 minutes.  Use your thermometers!

Enjoy this with a side of pasta, a salad, some nice crusty bread, the possibilities are endless and delicious!

Egg Roll Stuffed Chicken

Sounds delicious doesn't it?  It is!  There is a hot topic for me involved in this recipe.  It is the whole dark meat vs. white meat, thing.

Let's just talk chicken for a minute.  By the way, I wish I had chickens, although I am scared of them if one bit me, I could just eat it.  How bad can that turn out?  Not really, the reality is I would name them try to dress them, and hug them VERY much against their will.  They would be in family photos and it would be way over the top.  That is how I am with animals.  I would never be able to live with myself knowing that my chicken son "Chuck" was on the dinner table.  I just couldn't.  Wait, this isn't the chicken conversation I wanted to have.

The conversation I wanted to have involved, white, dark, bone in, boneless, skin on, skinless, etc.....  Everyone has a very distinct preference it seems.  I used to prefer just white boneless meat until boneless thighs came along, and since I grew up and started cooking, I realize you can't beat the flavor of a piece of bone in chicken.  Regardless of what you prefer, please trust me when I tell you that just because it is white mean does NOT mean it has to be dry!  I hear so often, "Oh I don't like white meat, it is to dry".  That would mean it was overcooked.  Why is it that some people will overcook the CRAP out of anything they can get in an oven or on a grill?  Thermometers are our friends!  The point is, this recipe does call for boneless chicken.  I used thighs as we love them but you choose what you would like.  Either way it will be healthy, and tasty, and served on a bed of rice (fried rice) you will have people thinking you are a culinary legend!

Here is what you will need
7-9 boneless skinless thighs or breasts.  (Pounded thin or butterfly the breasts to easier rolling)
1 tsp. vegetable oil
1, 1lb bag of shredded coleslaw mix with carrots
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. dried ginger
3 T soy sauce
1/4 tsp. white pepper (regular pepper will also do)
 2 T. additional vegetable oil

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  If you are using chicken breasts, either butterfly them open or pound them thinner for easier rolling.  I used thighs and this made 8-9 but using breasts, go with 7 or so.  Set aside.

In a large high sided skillet or wok, heat up your 1 tsp of vegetable oil.  Add in the cabbage mix, and garlic and saute for 3 minutes.  Add in the rest of the ingredients, ginger and soy sauce.

Stir to combine and continue stirring until the cabbage is soft and reduced by half.  Turn off heat and let it cool completely.

Place a large spoonful of mixture into the center of each piece of chicken and roll it up.  Use toothpicks if you need them to stay together better.

Place seam side down on a baking sheet.  Do with with all of the chicken.  Now, use a paper towel and wipe out your pan, place your 2 tablespoons of oil and let it get hot again.  Place 2 or 3 pieces of chicken at a time, seam side down in the oil and let them brown for approximately 3 minutes on each side.

Just get some good color on them and then place back onto the baking sheet.  When you are done, bake them for 25-30 minutes until chicken is cooked through.

Serve on some rice for a tasty dinner!!!  Check out the recipe suggestions below for other options to go with this meal!

ENJOY!

If you like this recipe, you might like....
Egg Drop Soup
Chicken Spring Rolls
Wonton Soup

Chicken with 40 Cloves (of garlic)

Hello my faithful cooking friends!

Wanna talk garlic?  Wanna cook with garlic?  Wanna, wanna, wanna?  The midwestern in me has taken over the easterner in me, thus, the "wanna".  My apologies.  

In my house its a garlic battle, constantly.  My husband USED to like garlic, suddenly in the last 3 months he has decided he does not enjoy it.  I thought perhaps he just didn't like biting down on a piece of garlic in any particular dish so I started rubbing the pan I was cooking in, with a piece of cut garlic.  Hint of flavor and no pieces to chew on.  Even that has him all in a mess. I tried elephant garlic which really is hardly garlic at all.  Its a member of the leek family.  It tastes of mild onion with a faint taste of garlic.  I enjoy it.  In fact I love it.  But it's a member of the ONION family...should have been my sign my dear husband wouldn't like it.  

 I on the other hand, eat garlic raw.  There is nothing better than memories of my mom's homemade dill pickles, because I could fish the garlic out and eat it.  Slowly roasted garlic cloves spread on crusty bread.  YUM!  My mouth is watering, for the record, I think its a possible psychiatric disorder.  Same thing happens when I dream of pickles!  The point being, there is likely no garlic I don't love.  I recently tried some garlic with a little zip, called Rocambole Garlic. It was awesome! 

Without further adieu, let us get to the recipe at hand.

CHICKEN WITH 40 CLOVES OF GARLIC

4-6 pieces of chicken.  Bone in or out.

40 cloves of peeled garlic.

4 tbsp butter

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tbsp dried Italian Seasoning

Salt

Pepper

1 cup chicken stock

2 sprigs of fresh thyme

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  In a shallow, oven safe pan on LOW heat,  melt 2 tbsp of butter and 1/4 cup olive oil. Toss in all 40 cloves of garlic and toss around.  Allow to heat in the pan as long as it takes to prep chicken.  DO NOT BURN.  Low heat is fine, you do not want it to brown, just cook.  Using paper towels dry chicken pieces.  Sprinkle liberally with salt, pepper and dried seasoning of choice.  Remove garlic from pan, put on a cookie sheet and put into oven to roast while you cook your chicken.  Put chicken in pan and brown, approx 3-4 minutes on each side.  When you turn them over on the second side, put your garlic from the oven back in the pan, all over the top of the chicken.  Add remaining 2 tbsp of butter, chicken stock and sprig of thyme, put a lid on and put in preheated oven for 1 hour.  Remove chicken from oven, and put skillet on medium heat and reduce stock for a nice pan sauce..  

Garlic should be whole but very soft.  Serve with crusty bread and use garlic to spread on it.  

This recipe is not for the faint of heart when it comes to garlic.  It is an intense garlic flavor, your house will smell better than Christmas!!!!  OK , just my opinion.  

Make sure when you buy your garlic you look for, tight skin, tight cloves that aren't loose.  No shriveled up garlic or crumbling garlic.  If the garlic has sprouted....its my opinion you should not use it.  Garlic should feel heavy, and not be wet!  I think it would be nice to use a variety of garlic in the dish, some a little hot and some a little milder.  

So get up, and run to the store.  Add garlic to your shopping list!  Get some extra...you DO realize Halloween is coming and the vampires will be out in full force!!!

Your, "garlic breath ROCKS" Chefwannabe

Chris

Note from chefwannabe's husband, "This chicken is truly not for anyone who doesn't LOVE garlic.  I do not LOVE garlic.  I like it...well I used to like it."  Ok, I am cutting him off there.  He obviously considers this a MISS in our kitchen.  I begged him to lie to me when he took his first bite, but alas, a truth teller he is, even when he shouldn't be!
Notice how tiny I made this writing?  Pffftttt!