Sunday Dinner: Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breasts
By Ryan Oakley. Filed in DIY |
I forget what blog it was (I just remembered) but it was some anarchist one and the fellow had a weekly food recipe on it. Now that’s a good idea, I thought. So I’m stealing it. Every Sunday I’m going to try to post some sort of food thing I made during the week.
Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breasts
What You Need
Chicken Breasts
Spinach
Mushrooms
Swiss Cheese
Bacon
Onions
Garlic
What You Do With it
Put the chicken breasts between two pieces of saran wrap and hit them with a mallet until they’re nice and flat. Very lightly fry the onions, garlic and spinach in olive oil. (I also threw some lemon pepper on all that.)
Put all that plus some grated swiss cheese into the centre of your flattened chicken. Roll it up and pin it together with a toothpick. Wrap those rolls in bacon.
Cook for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Let stand for a few minutes and then slice into wheels.
Then serve.
Ideas for next time: I think some Dijon mustard inside the chicken would also be good.
Although Ryan Oakley began his career as a simple rake (drunk) he has since become Toronto’s most renowned flaneur (no car) and notorious dandy (overdresses). A misanthropic composer of psycho-geographical fictions (bad science fiction), he is also a server of food, a tender of bar and a washer of dishes. While performing all these functions with efficiency and elegance (disdain and malice), he somehow finds the time to publicly criticize friends, strangers and cultural crap. He's a bit of a dick.
Sunday, July 26th 2009 at 5:34 pm |
So, my first reaction to this was “So, recipe writing isn’t your forte.” But thought better of it and now believe you prefer the “Fuck you, figure it out for yourself” method.
I mean, it’s not really a recipe anyway. It’s missing the basic structural elements of a recipe, like quantities and preparation methods. Did you put the garlic through a press? Did you dice the onion? How much onion and garlic is best?
How much of the spinach mixture will fill a breast? How thin is too thin?
I mean, I appreciate the process you provided. It matches my cooking style well: I haven’t used a recipe unaltered in years. But still, basic guidelines are required before a recipe can be altered to suit the cook.
I’ve never made stuffed chicken before. I’ve never flattened and rolled anything in any meat before. I have no idea how to do it.
But I’d like to learn.
So a challenge: I made this using only what information you provided. I mean, I have a half a package of bacon and a chicken breast in my fridge, and Jesse will be home from the Rogers Centre soon, hungry, why not?
I probably malletted the breast too thin and it doesn’t look as nice as yours (which is probably from a lack of experience). Instead of spinach I used asparagus, and instead of Swiss I used Havarti, because that’s what I had in the fridge.
It’s in the oven, and it smells great…
I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Sunday, July 26th 2009 at 6:54 pm |
Haha.
Jesse opened the door. Paused for a beat, and shouted “Yes! It’s coming from our apartment!”
Anyway. It turned out perfect. I take back what I said before. Your recipe only assumes a certain level of kitchen competency.
Sunday, July 26th 2009 at 10:33 pm |
Assuming a basic level of competency is probably why I’m so often disappointed. It’s pretty easy to make and I’m sure it tasted pretty good. Who needs measuring cups and all that nonsense?
Just eyeball it and have a smell.
Sunday, July 26th 2009 at 11:32 pm |
Just eyeball it and have a smell.
This matches with how my wife cooks. She does not do recipes and measuring cups are rough guides for ‘how much’ of anything to add.
The ‘hit it with a mallet’ part I could get behind – that sounds like fun.
Tuesday, July 28th 2009 at 2:19 pm |
Whaddya do with the mushrooms? Eat ‘em before you start cooking?