I should summarize by saying, "I am not a fan of chicken." My family, however, is. They love it in every form, preparation method and dish. I will say one thing, when I lived in Australia, I learned to appreciate - no, LOVE - chicken. In Australia, they don't grow their foul or meats with growth hormones and anything else funky. The population isn't in the gazillions so big factory farms take better care of their products before it goes to market. I think that chickens take longer to mature and develop and actually tastes like chicken should. Flavorful and delicious.. not like it has flown off a conveyor belt and blown into a piece of plastic and sent to the supermarket with a label "ALL NATURAL". Please.. today's chicken is as all natural as Joan Rivers' face!
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| This Kiev is baked, not fried! |
So, let's do some Kiev. I've been frustrated in the past with Kiev. I've tried and tried to make mine so that the seal does not lose its butter. To no avail.. no matter what I do, how hard I try or how clever I think I am.. that damned butter won't stay inside. Rather it leaks out and leads to disappointment.. I think it's awesome to cut into a Kiev slowly and have the butter and herbs drizzle out.. yummo. But I could never figure out how to keep the butter in without a bale of twine wrapping up the chicken or a forest of toothpicks holding it together - neither of which is too appetizing.
The secret is how you pound it out. Pounding the edges of the chicken much thinner than the main section of meat.. and sealing the chicken is key. Letting it sit uncovered in the refrigerator for an hour helps to dry out the meat so that the seal stays even tighter!
Another frustration is pounding out the chicken evenly. If you have a round shaped meat pounder, great! If you have a square one like me.. you need to be cautious and use a bit more gentle finesse. You can easily rip and tear your chicken if you get too heavy handed. The result is uneven thickness which makes rolling up the butter a disaster.
This option is baked, not fried and the chicken is uniform thickness thanks to butterflying the breasts... and best of all, the butter leaks out on your plate, not in your baking dish! But, if the butter does leak out while they are baking, so what? Just drizzle it over your chickens after you plate them.
CHICKEN KIEV
Makes 4 (May be frozen or allowed to sit overnight in refrigerator after assembly)
Herb Butter
1 stick of butter softened. (if you use salted, you can omit the salt below)
1 TBS minced parsley leaves, fresh or dried
1 large garlic clove, minced fine
1/2 tsp Tarragon leaves, dried
1 TBS lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
Fresh ground pepper to taste
Chicken
4-5 slices plain, white sandwich bread, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
2 TBS olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts - about 7-8 ounces each with tenderloins removed
1 cup all purpose flour
3 large eggs, beaten
1 tsp Dijon mustard
DIRECTIONS
For the butter:
Mix butter, garlic, herbs, lemon juice salt and pepper in a small bowl with a spatula until well combined. Form butter into a 3 inch square on plastic wrap. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for one hour.
For the Chicken:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees and adjust the rack to the lower/middle position. Using your food processor, add half the bread cubes and pulse until coarsely ground - about 15 1 second pulses. Transfer the crumbs to a medium bowl and repeat with remaining cubes. Note, bread doesn't have to be day old.. the freshest of sandwich white bread makes great spur of the moment crumbs. In the bowl, drizzle olive oil onto crumbs and mix briskly and lightly until all crumbs are fairly coated with olive oil. Next, spread all crumbs out on a cookie sheet evenly. Salt & pepper to taste if desired. Bake in oven until dry and golden brown, about 25-30 mins. Stirring once or twice during baking time.
3. Using two pieces of cling wrap, place cutlet in between plastic. Pound out the chicken, beginning at the center and working your way out. Make the chicken no less than 1/4 inch thick and make sure the edges of the chicken are much thinner than the middle, about 1/8 inch thin.
4. Remove butter from refrigerator and cut into 4 rectangular pieces. Working with one piece of chicken at a time, place chicken cutlet in front of you. The shape should resemble a heart. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Place a piece of butter at the center of bottom half of the breast. Roll the bottom edge over the butter, folding in the sides and continue rolling so that the butter is fully enclosed and it is nestled into a nice, tight package. Press on the chicken edges to seal the seam. Repeat with remaining chicken pieces. Refrigerate chicken for one hour, uncovered with seals up to allow edges to seal.
5. Preheat oven to 350 and place rack in center. Lightly spray a 9x13 baking dish with Pam. Using three different shallow bowls or pie plates, beat eggs together with Dijon mustard combined in one shallow bowl. Set aside. Measure out the flour in another shallow pan and also place bread crumbs in a seperate shallow dish.
6. Beginning with the flour, carefully dredge the first piece of chicken in flour, shaking off the excess gently. Next, dredge the chicken in the egg/mustard mix making sure all sides of the chicken are wet with the egg. Finally, roll the chicken in the bread crumbs and make sure plenty of crumbs are pressed into the chicken so that they adhere on the surface and the crannies of the chicken. Repeat with remaining pieces of chicken. (NOTE: Chicken can be refrigerated or frozen at this stage) Allow an extra 10 minutes of baking time if baking cold chicken. Frozen Kievs should be thoroughly defrosted before baking.
7. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until an instant read thermometer, pushed in from the top of the chicken reads 160 degrees. Let rest for 5 minutes on a wire rack before serving.
OPTIONS: We love our Kiev served with Jasmine Rice, but try buttered egg noodles or even roasted potatoes should you wish! Enjoy!
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