Parsley Lemon Stuffed Chicken Breasts

I made this again on 12/04 - using parsley in the stuffing, a pinch of cayenne pepper in the gravy, and less time in the oven. Yum!! It came out really well. I also used lower heat sauteing the apples and onions, and added a bit of olive oil during the saute to keep things sizzling. I als made a strange cous cous salad - see separate post.

I made this again on 3/17. I used cilantro instead of parsley. It was good, but it would have been better with parsley. Also, 15 minutes is the oven was too long. The temperature raced by 150 degrees when I checked it. Oops. Still good, but a bit tough. Finally, I strained the gravy this time - this was worth doing and I also thought that the gravy might have been improved with a bit of cayenne pepper - or something to give it some heat.

2 chicken breasts
2 slices wheat bread
1 lemon
1/4 C. shredded fresh parsley leaves
4 cloves garlic
1 small onion - minced
half an apple - diced
2 tbsp. apple cider (optional)
several sprigs of rosemary
salt
pepper
olive oil
1 tbsp. butter
-
-preheat oven to 350

Stuffing:

-toast and dice the bread - put the diced toast pieces in a small mixing bowl
-preheat a 12" ovenproof skillet
-add half the butter, the onion, and the apple to the skillet, saute for 4 or 5 minutes.
- bruise a tbsp. rosemary leaves and add them to the skillet - add some salt and pepper and cook for another two minutes
- mince one clove garlic and add it to the skillet
- cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice from one half into the skillet - let it cook for another 30 seconds or so.
- add the sauteed apples and onion to the diced bread
- add the parsley to the mix
- squeeze the other half of the lemon into the the stuffing mixture
- add 2 tbsp. apple cider to the stuffing mixture
- mix the stuffing together

Chicken:

- Pat the chicken breasts dry,
- carefully slice into one side of each chicken breast to make a pocket - for the stuffing
- mince two cloves of garlic
- coat the inside and outside of each piece of chicken with minced garlic, salt, pepper, and some olive oil
- stuff each chicken breast with the stuffing - if they look to fragile to turn once in a skillet, tie them closed
- reheat the skillet the apples and onions cooked in
- add 2 tbsp. olive oil
- place the stuffed chicken in the skillet - brown for about 3 minutes on each side - turning carefully to not spill the stuffing
- after a few minutes on the second side, add the rest of the rosemary, and several peeled and crushed garlic cloves to the skillet, and put the skillet in the oven for 15 minutes.

Gravy:

- Remove the skillet from the oven, place the chicken on a platter - tent loosely with foil
-
remove most, but not all of the stuffing chunks frmo the skillet-place the skillet over a medium high flame
- add some chopped shallots (but these will burn quickly - so keep an eye on them (30-45 seconds!) (its also OK to blow this step off)
-mix about 19/ c flour with a T of butter - mush it together with fingertips and adjust ratio to make a play-dough-like paste.
- add a 1/2 C chicken stock and 1/4 cup white wine to the skillet - stir with a wooden spoon to mix chunks off of the pan into the gravy
- add the flour-butter mxsture
- cook for 2 or 3 minutes or until the gravy starts to thicken
- strain the gravy and adjust with salp, pepper, cayenne to taste

plate the chicken and drizzle the gravy over it (strain the gravy if you want to get the garlic and rosemary chunks out of it before serving)

I made this tonight and served it with mashed potatoes (covered with the gravy) and steamed broccoli. (3/18/07 - I had been starting the mashed potatoes with the mixing thing in the stand mixer and then switching to the wire whip attachment. I didn't bother with the whip this time and it was fine.)