Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Macadamias and Pears
serves 4
Ingredients:
4 chicken breast halves
1 pear, quartered, cored and coarsely chopped (i don't peel it)
1 cup macadamia nuts plus a few chopped for garnishing
lots of butter
flour for dredging
2-3 ounces of pear brandy
mushrooms to taste
salt to taste
1/4 cup or so heavy cream
cooked wild rice
Advance Preparation:
lay each chicken breast half separately on a sheet of heavy plastic wrap. cover with another layer of plastic. pound the bejabbers out of it with a heavy blunt object. (i use the bottom of a large bell-shaped wooden mallet that laur's grandfather used whilst engraving memorial markers. if you are memorial-maker's-mallet-deprived, you might look for a more convenient implement.) the chicken should end up a 1/4" or less thick. it will start out looking like australia and should end up king like africa. be careful not to over-flatten the thin edges or pound holes in the middle. remember. it's africa, not south america. no lake titicaca in your chicken breasts1.
uh. where was i. oh. ok. i'm back...
process the pear, the cup of macadamia nuts, a little salt and about 2 tbs butter into a lumpy paste. (this could well be done with a knife instead of a food processor. i have a personal (and for once, serious) belief that a more personal "relationship" with your ingredients makes for better food. the love and care you put into preparation comes out in the results.)
spread a thin layer of the paste onto each piece of chicken, leaving about 1/2" of the outside uncovered. if you use too much filling, it'll just squeeze out and make a mess. roll each piece of chicken starting with algiers and rolling south to capetown. tuck in the ends and use toothpicks as needed to ensure tidiness.
dredge each piece of chicken heavily in flour and some salt. pat the flour into the chicken. refrigerate while you work on the mushrooms.
slice the mushrooms as the mood of the day strikes you. i waffle between bitesized pieces as part of the sauce and slices of portabellos as garnish. for a really elegant presentation, i'd search out some large portabello caps to use as a "plate" for presentation. saute in butter with salt to taste until thoroughly limp. time will depend on the size of the pieces. reserve.
Final Preparation:
dredge the chicken again in flour. pat the flour in to get as much flour as possible into the chicken.
saute the chicken over medium-high heat in 2 oz (1/2 stick) of butter until browned in a stovetop to oven pan (as much as i might bemoan the flaws of calphalon anodized, this is where my saute pan really comes through with honors). turn as needed to brown evenly.
move kit and kaboodle to a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 15 minutes. turn the chicken pieces halfway through.
remove pan from oven, remove and reserve the chicken and deglaze the pan with the brandy. reduce heat to low, put the mushrooms (unless you're using whole mushroom caps) back in the pan and add the cream. heat with constant stirring until hot, but not boiling.
place a bed of wild rice on each plate (or mushroom cap), pour the sauce evenly on each bed of rice, place the chicken on top and garnish with the reserved chopped nuts. a sprig or 2 of parsley would be just precious.
Variations:
although i haven't tried it yet, i think that filberts/hazelnuts would make an excellent substitution for the macadamias. i'll prolly use them for next try (which will be Whoopdidoo haute presentasion). cashews should work well. i suspect almonds would as well.
on my first try at this recipe, i deglazed with cointreau. i found it too sweet. laur loved it, so i won't go thumbs down. it's a matter of taste. second try, i used poirelle (which is a semi-sweet blend of pear liqueur and xo cognac). laur (who's yin to my yang, feel to my think, and hermione to my maurice) loved it. i moved it from A- to A. next try, i'm gonna use a bone/dust dry german pear brandy (schladerer, if you wanna chase it down). i'll more'n prolly move it from A to A+. laur will still be happy.
on the other hand; on my first try i added bread crumbs and raisins to the paste. laur and i agreed that it was too sweet (not to say that laur didn't still love it). i gave it a dreaded B++ (with a footnote that it warranted further study).
i'm not real sure about the amount of cream. on my initial tries, i put the sauce on top of the chicken. nice as it is on top, the chicken is too pretty to cover. BUT, i might need more sauce if i put it on the rice. it'll all get mooshed together in the end, but i'm a form-over-function sorta guy and my final vote is for pretty.
i really like wild brown rice mixes (lundberg makes several excellent ones). they're far cheaper than the traditional wild rice and very flavorful. i'd also happily use a pilaf of this rice with a sofrito of a little garlic, grated carrot and grated zucchini as a bed for the chicken.
if you are male, reflect for a couple of moments on this process. resolve to be more sympathetic when your significant female relation comes home after a mammogram.
serves 4
Ingredients:
4 chicken breast halves
1 pear, quartered, cored and coarsely chopped (i don't peel it)
1 cup macadamia nuts plus a few chopped for garnishing
lots of butter
flour for dredging
2-3 ounces of pear brandy
mushrooms to taste
salt to taste
1/4 cup or so heavy cream
cooked wild rice
Advance Preparation:
lay each chicken breast half separately on a sheet of heavy plastic wrap. cover with another layer of plastic. pound the bejabbers out of it with a heavy blunt object. (i use the bottom of a large bell-shaped wooden mallet that laur's grandfather used whilst engraving memorial markers. if you are memorial-maker's-mallet-deprived, you might look for a more convenient implement.) the chicken should end up a 1/4" or less thick. it will start out looking like australia and should end up king like africa. be careful not to over-flatten the thin edges or pound holes in the middle. remember. it's africa, not south america. no lake titicaca in your chicken breasts1.
uh. where was i. oh. ok. i'm back...
process the pear, the cup of macadamia nuts, a little salt and about 2 tbs butter into a lumpy paste. (this could well be done with a knife instead of a food processor. i have a personal (and for once, serious) belief that a more personal "relationship" with your ingredients makes for better food. the love and care you put into preparation comes out in the results.)
spread a thin layer of the paste onto each piece of chicken, leaving about 1/2" of the outside uncovered. if you use too much filling, it'll just squeeze out and make a mess. roll each piece of chicken starting with algiers and rolling south to capetown. tuck in the ends and use toothpicks as needed to ensure tidiness.
dredge each piece of chicken heavily in flour and some salt. pat the flour into the chicken. refrigerate while you work on the mushrooms.
slice the mushrooms as the mood of the day strikes you. i waffle between bitesized pieces as part of the sauce and slices of portabellos as garnish. for a really elegant presentation, i'd search out some large portabello caps to use as a "plate" for presentation. saute in butter with salt to taste until thoroughly limp. time will depend on the size of the pieces. reserve.
Final Preparation:
dredge the chicken again in flour. pat the flour in to get as much flour as possible into the chicken.
saute the chicken over medium-high heat in 2 oz (1/2 stick) of butter until browned in a stovetop to oven pan (as much as i might bemoan the flaws of calphalon anodized, this is where my saute pan really comes through with honors). turn as needed to brown evenly.
move kit and kaboodle to a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 15 minutes. turn the chicken pieces halfway through.
remove pan from oven, remove and reserve the chicken and deglaze the pan with the brandy. reduce heat to low, put the mushrooms (unless you're using whole mushroom caps) back in the pan and add the cream. heat with constant stirring until hot, but not boiling.
place a bed of wild rice on each plate (or mushroom cap), pour the sauce evenly on each bed of rice, place the chicken on top and garnish with the reserved chopped nuts. a sprig or 2 of parsley would be just precious.
Variations:
although i haven't tried it yet, i think that filberts/hazelnuts would make an excellent substitution for the macadamias. i'll prolly use them for next try (which will be Whoopdidoo haute presentasion). cashews should work well. i suspect almonds would as well.
on my first try at this recipe, i deglazed with cointreau. i found it too sweet. laur loved it, so i won't go thumbs down. it's a matter of taste. second try, i used poirelle (which is a semi-sweet blend of pear liqueur and xo cognac). laur (who's yin to my yang, feel to my think, and hermione to my maurice) loved it. i moved it from A- to A. next try, i'm gonna use a bone/dust dry german pear brandy (schladerer, if you wanna chase it down). i'll more'n prolly move it from A to A+. laur will still be happy.
on the other hand; on my first try i added bread crumbs and raisins to the paste. laur and i agreed that it was too sweet (not to say that laur didn't still love it). i gave it a dreaded B++ (with a footnote that it warranted further study).
i'm not real sure about the amount of cream. on my initial tries, i put the sauce on top of the chicken. nice as it is on top, the chicken is too pretty to cover. BUT, i might need more sauce if i put it on the rice. it'll all get mooshed together in the end, but i'm a form-over-function sorta guy and my final vote is for pretty.
i really like wild brown rice mixes (lundberg makes several excellent ones). they're far cheaper than the traditional wild rice and very flavorful. i'd also happily use a pilaf of this rice with a sofrito of a little garlic, grated carrot and grated zucchini as a bed for the chicken.
if you are male, reflect for a couple of moments on this process. resolve to be more sympathetic when your significant female relation comes home after a mammogram.