Tag Archives: Chicken

Don’t Waste That: Mushroom & Persillade Stuffed Chicken

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Now *this* recipe was *not* a miscalculation!  This was yummy.  Really yummy.

I had a handful of mushrooms rolling around in my fridge.  These were the remaining few from a package that I had bought at the farmers market and I had to do something with them before they dried out.  Thinking of how bright and nutty I found the persillade, I though that it would go great with the woody flavor of the mushrooms.  However, I didn’t have enough mushrooms to make a big enough side -and- I had only one lone chicken breast defrosted in the fridge (which needed to get used up too before it went bad).  I thought that I could oomph the serving of the chicken by making it a stuffed chicken.

Preheat your oven to 375F.  Chop the mushrooms into quarters.  In a medium sized, oven proof skillet, add chopped mushrooms and cook over medium heat with olive oil.  You don’t want to cook the mushrooms too much, you really just want them to sweat, because they are going to be cooked again when we bake the chicken.  This should only take about 5 minutes.

 

Pour the mushrooms into a small bowl and toss with 1 heaping tablespoon of persillade and a sprinkle of mozzarella (or whatever cheese you have in your fridge).
 
Slice down the thickest part of the chicken breast, leaving the chicken breast intact.  Open up the chicken breast and pound out the breast until it is about an inch thick.
 
Add the mushroom and persillade filling to one side and roll the chicken breast up like a burrito.  Once you have it rolled, slide toothpicks through the chicken breast to keep it rolled up.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
 

In the same oven proof skillet that you cooked the mushrooms, add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet and heat to medium-high heat.  Brown the chicken on both sides.  Quickly, put the skillet in the oven to bake the chicken.  Bake the chicken about 15 minutes. 

 
Once the chicken is done baking, let it rest on a cutting board. Cut the chicken in half; one half is one serving.  Serve over collard greens and quinoa!

 
Mushroom & Persillade Stuffed Chicken
 
1 handful of mushrooms, quartered
1 heaping Tablespoon of Persillade
Pinch of mozzarella
1 large chicken breast, pounded out to 1 inch thickness
  1. Preheat your oven to 375F
  2. In an oven proof skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat.  Add the quartered mushrooms and cook the mushrooms until they just start to sweat, about 5 minutes.
  3. In a small bowl, toss mushrooms, persillade, and mozzarella.
  4. Add to one side of the chicken and roll up the chicken, securing with toothpicks
  5. In the same oven proof skillet used to sweat the mushrooms, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat.  Brown the chicken on both sides.
  6. Add the skillet to the oven and bake at 375F for about 15 minutes.
  7. Let chicken rest on a cutting board.  Cut in half and serve.
    8.  
 


My Appalling Miscalculation: Chicken Liver Pasta

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I’m always up for trying something different so when I came across Martha Stewart’s recipe for Rigatoni with Chicken Livers, I was intrigued.  Mister loves fried chicken gizzards so I thought that I would surprise him with Chicken Liver Pasta for dinner.  Gizzards, liver, same difference right?

The Nutless Wonder, back there, is eyeballing my Chicken Livers!
 

When Mister came over for dinner after work, he asked what was for dinner.  I proudly responded, “I came across a Martha Stewart recipe that looked pretty good and that I thought you may like:  Chicken Liver Pasta”. 

 
The look of total and complete horror on his face told me that I had made an appalling miscalculation.
 
It has wine in it.  Wine makes everything better.
Right?!?!
 
“I THOUGHT YOU LIKED LIVER!” I exclaimed horrified, “YOU LIKE GIZZARDS!”
 
“YA!  GIZZARDS!  FRIED!” He chimes back.
 
“Don’t worry, babe,” I ensure, taking his hands in mine, “I’m scared too.  We’ll be scared together, Ok?  Besides, maybe it will be really, really good.  Afterall, it is a Martha Stewart recipe!”
 
He responded only with a stealy stare.  I could just tell he was thinking, “I swear, if you mess up my dinner woman…”
 
It has lots & lots of butter too.  Butter makes everything better!
Right?!?!?!

 

While I nervously cook this dinner, my spirits rise in that it actually smells really good.  The liver has cooked up nice, the onions caramelized perfectly, and everything is waiting to be tossed with the pasta.  The pasta gets done cooking and I toss everything together.  It all looks kind of…grey.  I plate dinner and bring it to the table.  Mister pours two big glasses of wine.  We toast, “To trying new things!”.  We look at each other nervously, I close my eyes, and we take our first bite.

It wasn’t so bad.  Mister actually went back for seconds.  I ate as much as I could but just couldn’t finish my first serving.  True to Martha Stewart, the recipe was solid.  There was a lot of flavor; the onion played well with the liver.  The butter and wine came through lovely  The sauce was creamy and coated the pasta well.  I guess I just don’t like liver.  The weird thing with liver is that it’s not that it tastes all that bad; it’s the texture.  The texture is crumbly.  It’s a different texture that I’m just  not used to and it’s hard to explain.  It doesn’t “melt” like filet mignon or fatty tuna belly; and it’s not really chewy, like octopus.  It’s just completely…different. 

The Nutless Wonder and Belladini Houdini got servings of Chicken Liver Pasta mixed in with their dinner for 3 nights in a row. 

I’m posting this recipe because I know there are people out there that like liver and if you do, you should really try this recipe.  Like I said above, it’s a solid recipe…I just learned that I don’t like liver!

Chicken Liver Pasta

From Martha Stewart

1 pound rigatoni
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 pound chicken livers, any sinew removed, patted dry
3 T unsalted butter, divided
1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced lengthwise (about 1 cup)
1 T finely chopped sage leaves
2/3 cup dry red wine
1 1/2 oz parmesan, grated (about 1/2 cup)
1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley
extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

  1. Cook pasta in a large pot of generously salted water until very al dente.  Reserve 1 cup of pasta water before draining.
  2. Season livers witth salt and pepper.  Melt 2 T butter in a large sautee pan over medium-high heat.  Cook livers, flipping once, until plump and golden brown, about 4 minutes; transfer to cutting board.  Reduce heat to medium and melt remaining tablespoon of butter.  Add onion and 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook until golden, about 8 minutes. Chop livers and reurn to pan, along with any juices and sage.  Increase heat to medium-high.  Add wine, simmer until liquid is reduced by half.
  3. Add pasta and 1/2 cup reserved pasta water.  Simmer until sauce coats pasta; remove from heat.  Toss with parmesan and parsley.  If dry, toss with more pasta water, a bit at a time.  Divide among 6 bowls; drizzle with oil and sprinkle with parmesan.

Marmalade Basted Chicken

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I love to make a good baste with marmalade and 3 Citrus Marmalade is just the right one!  The sugars in the marmalade creates a lovely crust over cooked meat because it caramelizes under the heat.  The best way to cook this is to cook in the broiler (in the winter) or over the grill (in the summer).

 

To get the most flavor injected into your meat, poke holes with a fork through out the meat, then brush on the marmalade baste.  I like to brush on the baste to marinade the meat (in this case chicken) for about an hour before I fire it up.  When I throw the meat in the grill or under the broiler, I flip the meat every 3-5 minutes and brush on a new layer of baste every time I flip the meat.  I find that 15-20 minutes is the perfect amount of time for chicken.  When the chicken is done, you will have a lovely caramelized crust and when you cut into the chicken, you will find the chicken very moist.  

Oops, I almost forgot to take a “finished” picture! Excuse the messy plate.  I had to take the picture before the last pieces were taken!
 
Marmalade Marinade & Baste

Yield: Enough for 1 pork loin or 4 servings chicken

1/8 cup 3 Citrus Marmalade
1/8 cup olive oil
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, & onion powder to taste
1/8 cup of orange vinegar, or to taste

  1. Combine marmalade and olive oil in a small bowl, whisk with fork until emulsified. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder to taste. Add orange vinegar to loosen up the baste.
  2. Whisk
  3. Adjust seasonings to taste. Add more olive oil or vinegar to make it to the consistency you prefer.