Stuffed Chicken en Croute

The best thing about Sunday brunch: it can be any time of the day. Sunday afternoon we took a trip to Vicky and Mike’s place for some afternoon goodness. We enjoyed a very yummy waffle brunch with berries and cream. While there, Vicky’s son Aidan showed me his new Wii and NHL2K10. Aidan’s probably the coolest 8yr old I know (Cool Aiden fact: He know all the player stats of the Halifax Mooseheads; ALL of them!). Also in attendance were their large dogs, Luka and Marley. They’re both still young and ridiculously hyper.

Sunday dinner, we invited Joanne's parent to join us and I decided to make Stuffed Chicken en croute which is basically stuffed chicken in a puffed pastry shell. It's a fun recipe to make with all of the cooking handled by the oven. As a side, I served saute éd broccoli which went well with the main dish.

It was delicious and a hit with the in-laws.

Even though I used cilantro in the recipe, you can use whatever herb you like. This is a fun recipe to experiment with: add some paprika, dried parsley, grated cheese, whatever you feel like.
For those of you that are talented and can make your own puff pastry mix, go ahead and use it. I, on the other hand, can't be bothered with this so I picked up a package of Tenderflake® pastry. It's easy and all you have to do it roll it out.
These were so good. My inlaws couldn't stop raving. The smell while cooking was incredible.




Stuffed Chicken en Croute

• 4 chicken fillets
• 4 frozen puff pastry sheets
• 4 oz cream cheese (the firm kind)
• 6 slices of bacon
• 1/4 bunch of cilantro
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp of chili powder
• 1 green onion
• 1 egg
• salt & pepper

Cook the bacon as normal, drain the slices on a paper towel and crumble them.

Finely chop the green onion and cilantro. Mix together the greens with the cream cheese, garlic, chili powder, crumbled bacon and a good dash of salt and pepper. Mix it well.

Make a deep cut in each chicken fillet and fill with the cream cheese mix.

Roll out your pastry dough. Place the chicken on top of the pastry, with the cream cheese side down. Season the chicken with a generous amount of salt and pepper.

Beat the egg and brush the edges with your egg wash, then form them into packages. The egg wash will function as a glue to hold everything together. Lightly brush the top with the egg wash too.

Place in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for 30-35 minutes

Side dish:

Sauteed Broccol with Garlic

• 1/2 lb broccoli (1 bunch), ends trimmed
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large or 2 small garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• pinch black pepper

Cook broccoli in a pot of boiling salted water until stems are crisp-tender, about 5 minutes, plunge quickly into ice water to stop the cooking, then drain in a colander.

Heat oil in a heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté garlic, stirring, until pale golden, about 30 seconds. Add broccoli, salt, and pepper and cook, tossing, until heated through, about 2 minutes.