The point here is that this dish was totally quick, elegant, and do-able. The chutney could easily have been done ahead of time. Instructions said to “serve room temperature”, so this could have been cooked, refrigerated overnight, and brought to room temperature as the chicken was made and stuffed. Actually, the chicken breasts are supposed to rest stuffed from one hour to overnight, so the entire thing could be done the day before. We served with another green salad – kinda boring, but we have that freshly made blue cheese dressing and it’s hard to resist!
Four fresh herbs are diced: basil, tarragon, chives, and parsley. Latter two freshly harvested from backyard. These are combined with a soft chevre, olive oil, salt, and pepper; this comprises the “stuffing”. It was somewhat amusing that the list of ingredients just lists “freshly ground black pepper” and the instructions tell you to “use half of the salt and pepper” in the cheese blend. Errr . . . half?
A slit/pocket is cut into the thickest portion of the chicken breast and the cheese mixture is stuffed into this pocket, and one is supposed to close the opening with a toothpick. Naturally we would not have any toothpicks! Well . . . I did remember that Sophia had some fancy umbrella toothpicks just because she loves “adorable”. Not standard issue, but they worked, even if the pan looked a little bizarre!
The stuffed breasts were just pan-done in butter and olive oil. Easy, easy, quick. The only part that took a little time was mincing the herbs. I realize that I could throw them in the coffee/spice grinder, but I’m working on making my knife skills quicker.
Clara, in the meanwhile, put together the Peach-Fig Chutney. Cooking vinegar always smells . . . like cooking vinegar. But once we got past that, the peach/fig smell (and this used tamarind paste and pickled ginger as well, ohhhhh my gracious what a smell) was amazing.
This was delicious. Second home-run from The Union Square Cafe Cookbook!
