Chicken Kiev

My first experience with Chicken Kiev was in college. We'd have an assortment of pre-made, pre-frozen, stuffed and breaded chicken breasts for our weekly formal dinner at my sorority house. I can just see our house mom and the cook deliberating over the order form while the frozen food delivery guy looked on. When they saw "Cordon Bleu" and "Chicken Kiev" they probably thought, "That sounds fancy enough for formal dinner." What ended up on our plates was anything but fancy. It was actually kind of spongy. Ewww. One of my roommates took to calling them hamsters. Why, you may ask. Well, because those pre-made, pre-frozen, breaded chicken bundles were roughly the size and shape of hamsters. Gross. I can still hear my roommate hollering down the hall to me, "Hurry up, Bailey!(My maiden name) Hamsters tonight! You don't wanna miss out on hamsters!"

Last night, I decided to give Chicken Kiev another try. I'm glad I did, and so was my family. I thought it was delicious and to our two small children, it seemed like a fancy chicken nugget, so of course they ate it.

It's not too tricky, you just need some chopped green onion, a minced clove of garlic, and a tablespoon of fresh parsley. When I grabbed for my parsley in the crisper drawer last night, it was less like fresh and more like decomposed. Ick. I used the dried version from my spice cabinet.



You also need butter. Slice it into 2 1/2" X 1/2" strips.



And chicken. 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts.(I only used 3) Use a meat mallet to flatten the chicken between two pieces of plastic wrap to about 1/8" thickness.



Then salt and pepper the chicken generously and spread the mixture of green onion, garlic, and parsley. Place the slice of butter in the center.



Now fold in the sides and roll it up.



Here's my breading station. First flour with a little seasoning salt, then 1 egg with a tablespoon of water, and last plain old bread crumbs.



Dredge the chicken rolls in the flour.



Dip in the egg.



Coat with bread crumbs.



Repeat the egg and bread crumb step again and then cover and chill for 1 to 24 hours. That's a bonus about this recipe. You can make it ahead then pull it out to brown and pop into the oven after work or before your dinner party.



When ready to cook, melt a tablespoon of butter in a skillet. Then add a tablespoon of cooking oil. Cook over medium high heat for about 5 minutes until golden brown. Turn to brown all sides.



They bake in a 400 degree oven for an additional 15-18 minutes until the chicken in no longer pink or 170 degrees internal temp. Here it is, Chicken Kiev. A far cry the hamsters of my college days, thank goodness.




Chicken Kiev from Better Homes and Gardens

Prep: 20 minutes
Chill: 1 hour
Bake: 15 minutes


Ingredients
1 tablespoon chopped green onion
1 tablespoon snipped fresh parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 of a 1/4-pound stick of butter, chilled
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Salt and black pepper
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon cooking oil

Directions
1. In a small bowl combine green onion, parsley, and garlic; set aside. Cut chilled butter into four 2-1/2x1/2-inch sticks. In a shallow bowl stir together egg and water. Place flour in another shallow bowl. Place bread crumbs in a third shallow bowl. Set aside.

2. Place a chicken breast half between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Using the flat side of a meat mallet pound chicken lightly into a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. Remove plastic wrap. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with one-fourth of the green onion mixture. Place a butter piece in center of chicken piece. Fold in sides; roll up. Repeat with remaining chicken.

3. Coat chicken rolls with flour. Dip in egg mixture; coat with bread crumbs. Dip in egg mixture again; coat with with additional bread crumbs. (Coat ends well to seal in the butter.) Place coated chicken in 2-quart rectangular baking dish. Cover and chill for 1 to 24 hours.

4. In a large skillet melt the 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high heat; add oil. Add chilled chicken rolls. Cook about 5 minutes or until golden brown, turning to brown all sides. Place rolls in a 2-quart rectangular baking dish. Bake, uncovered, in a 400 degree F oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink (170 degrees F). Spoon any drippings over rolls. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition Facts per roll: 328 cal., 15 g total fat (6 g sat. fat), 142 mg chol., 479 mg sodium, 13 g carbo., 1 g fiber, 33 g pro.
Daily Values: 9% vit. A, 5% vit. C, 15% calcium, 12% iron
Exchanges: 1 Starch, 4 Lean Meat, 1/2 Fat

Weight Watcher's Points per roll: A high 7. More like 7 1/2 : )