Stuffed chicken breast with fresh brussels sprout salad

Hello there followers and other foodies out their 🙂

Before talking about this amazing chicken and salad I would like to say that I am sorry for my unstable blogging the last 8-9 month. As some of you may know my husband Chris and I relocated from Denmark to Atlanta, Georgia in early April to start a new life as entrepreneurs and it has taken a lot of our time and energy. Things rarely goes as planned and we have now turned to entrepreneurial adventure B which will leave me more time for cooking and blogging, which is what I really love spending my time on.
When plan B is ready to be know by the public, I will definitely drag all of you guys and girls into our adventure, so look forward to the next few month where a dream might come true.

Enough about me and my entrepreneurial dream, this blog is about food and today I will show you how to make the most amazing stuffed chicken breast with a fresh and crispy brussels sprout salad. If you think that either you, your better half, children or guests don’t like brussels sprouts, don’t worry… this salad tastes nothing like the steamed brussels sprouts that everybody remember from their childhood. I would even say, that if you serve it to people not telling them what it is, they will love it and ask for the recipe.
Today I serve the salad together with cheese stuffed chicken, but otherwise I like to add a little bit of feta cheese to the salad to give it an extra punch.
Besides this brussels sprouts recipe I can also recommend my honey glazed recipe as well as my other raw brussels sprout salad.

Hope that you will enjoy and please leave a comment if you have any questions or just want to learn more 🙂

Ingredients (4 servings)

Brussels sprout salad

16 oz. brussels sprouts, cleaned

1 bell pepper

1 red onion

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp honey

1.5 tbsp grainy mustard

1 lime, juice

Stuffed chicken breast

4 chicken breasts, organic

6 oz. cream cheese

0.5 red onion

1 chili pepper

1-2 garlic cloves

1 pinch of black pepper

8 oz mushrooms

8 oz bacon, sliced

2 tbsp butter

Salt & pepper

Begin with the chicken breasts. Preheat the oven at 400F/200C and cover a baking tray baking paper followed by a wire rack. Make sure that there is space between the baking tray and the wire rack, this will help the bacon get crisp all the way around.

Chop onion, garlic and chili pepper (I used jalapeños, but if you like a more kick to your chicken choose something with more heat) finely and add it to a bowl with cream cheese and black pepper. Mix it all together and set aside while preparing the mushrooms and chicken breasts.

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Clean and slice the mushrooms. Remember never to clean mushrooms by washing them as it will remove a lot of the flavor, use a brush or a little sharp knife instead.
Add the sliced mushrooms to a dry medium-hot pan and sauté until most, but not all of liquid has evaporated. If you add too many mushrooms to the pan at one time, you will risk that instead of the liquid evaporating it will just be released into the pan and boil the mushrooms instead of sautéing them, so if you plan on making a larger portion do you self a favor and divide this process in two.
Transfer the sautéed mushrooms to a chopping board and let cool before chopping them into small pieces.

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Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Without cleaning the pan add the butter and let melt at medium heat. Add the seasoned chicken breasts and roast on all sides until light brown, about 2-3 minutes on each side.
Remove the roasted chicken from the pan and make a deep slice into the side of the meat. Stuff the chicken with with your cheese filling and chopped mushrooms and wrap it in bacon.  On the picture below I have used an overload of bacon, but this not necessary. The most important thing is that the stuffing stays inside the chicken and not wether you have used 4 or 8 slices of bacon and how your wrap looks like. Of cause a nice looking wrap will make a better finished impression, but if the bacon gets layered it will be difficult getting it crisp.
Place the wrapped chicken breasts on the prepared baking tray/wire and bake in the oven until the internal temperature reaches 165F/74C which for me takes approximately 35-40 minutes.

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While the chicken is baking you have time to prepare the salad.
Cut the brussels sprouts in half and slice them. Clean and slice the pepper bell and red onion too. Add all three to a mixing bowl and use your fingers or two forks to combine it.
In another bowl, mix together olive oil, honey, mustard and lime juice. Mix well to make sure that the honey gets incorporated into the dressing and not left in the bottom of the bowl.
Pour the well mixed dressing over the salad and mix. Leave to rest until the chicken is finished. Stuffed chicken with brussels sprouts salad 1

The salad can also be made in advance if you are entertaining guests or your kids while cooking. Just have in mind that if you want the salad to be fresh and crispy, you will have wait and not add the dressing until last minute. If you on the other hand would like the dressing to get well mixed into the salad you can add it early and let in rest until dinner time. I like it either way so for me it depends on the time.

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Remove the chicken from the oven when it has reached the wanted temperature and let it rest for a few minutes before slicing it. Arrange on a plate together with the salad and a piece of warm home baked foccacia bread.

Serve with a light beer or a cold glass of white- or rosé wine.

Stuffed chicken with brussels sprouts salad (22 of 23)

Bon Appétit friends!

Ingredients (4 servings)

Brussels sprout salad

450 g brussels sprounts, cleaned

1 bell pepper

1 red onion

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp honey

1.5 tbsp grainy mustard

1 lime, juice

Stuffed chicken breast

4 chicken breasts, organic

125 g cream cheese

0.5 red onion

1 chili pepper

1-2 garlic cloves

1 pinch of black pepper

225 g mushrooms

225 g bacon, sliced

2 tbsp butter

Salt & pepper

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Buffalo Chicken Wing with Blue Cheese Dressing

Buffalo chicken wings with blue cheese dressing is definitely among our favorite appetizers and are perfect to serve with cold beers on the sunny day 🙂

Normally we would make the wing sauce our self, but last week we visited Chili House and found this wing sauce which we wanted to try. It tasted exactly as expected and we will definitely try to make our version, as this bottle was quite expensive.

If you don’t have the patience or the kitchen skills needed to make the wing sauce your self, the one used here is a great alternative, which can be bought at the stores webshop.

 

Ingredients (4 servings)

12 chicken wings

3 tbsp. olive oil

Salt

Pepper

1 cup chicken wing sauce

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tbsp. blue cheese

 

Begin by firing up the grill. While the charcoal gets ready, you can prepare the chicken wings.

Grease the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Grill the greased chicken wings at 400F for about 60 minutes. Then place the grilled chicken in a mixing bowl and pour over the wing sauce – mix well.

Then place the chicken wings right above the charcoals for a few minutes. Take the wings off the grill and let rest while making the blue cheese dressing.

Whisk together sour cream and blue cheese. If you have trouble dissolving the blue cheese, you can press the blue cheese chunks up agains the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Serve with a cold beer 😀

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Bon Appétit!

Ingredients (4 servings)

12 chicken wings

3 tbsp. olive oil

Salt

Pepper

2.5 dl chicken wing sauce

2.5 dl sour cream

1 tbsp. blue cheese

 

Coq au Vin Blanc

Coq au vin is French and means “rooster with wine”. It is a braise of rooster/chicken cooked with wine, bacon, mushrooms and garlic. Originally the dish was made with Burgundy, but recently the French people have begun to use local wines when they make it.

This version with white wine is great to serve on a cold and snowy day (like today), but just as good on a rainy summer day.

It takes approximately 20 hours to make the dish, but it is all worth it!

 

Ingredients (4 servings)

1 chicken

2 tbsp. olive oil, for cooking

12 shallots, peeled

1 garlic cloves, minced

1 pound mushrooms, 1/2 sliced and 1/2 whole

10 slices bacon

1/8 cup cognac

2 1/2 cup good white wine

2 cups chicken stock

3 tbsp. thyme leaves, fresh

3 bay leaves

2 tbsp. flour

1 tbsp. butter

3/4 cup cream

Salt

Pepper

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Cut the chicken into 6-8 pieces – thigh, drumsticks, and breast (cut each breast into two pieces if they are big). Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Chop the bacon roughly and fry in a cast iron pod until brown and crisp. Remove the bacon, but leave the melted fat. If necessary, add the olive oil and brown the meat on both sides. Remove the chicken and set it a side while making the sauce.

Add the butter and the shallots and roast until the onions begin to get transparent. Then add the mushrooms and roast for 5-6 minutes or until the mushroom liquid is gone. Add garlic and roast for a few more minutes.

Shift the flour into the vegetables and stir well. Add the cognac and stir until combined with the flour. Then add 1/3 cup of white wine at time and stir well between. Make sure that roux is thickening before adding more. When your have added approximately 2/3 of the wine, stop adding liquid and let cook for 4-5 minutes. Then add the rest of the wine and the chicken stock.

Bring to a boil before adding thyme, bay leaves, 2/3 of the fried bacon and the browned chicken. Let boil for a few minutes. Put a lid on the pod and let simmer in the oven (convection) at 270F for about an hour or until the meat is tender.

When cooked, remove the chicken from the pod and add the cream. Bring to boil on the stove. Let boil at medium heat for 10 -15 minutes or until the sauce has the right consistency (the consistency you like best). Season with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle the remaining fried bacon on top of the finished arrangement and serve with rice, a good french baguette and a glass of wine 🙂

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Bon Appétit!

Ingredients (4 servings)

1 chicken

2 tbsp. olive oil, for cooking

12 shallots, peeled

1 garlic cloves, minced

450 g mushrooms, 1/2 sliced and 1/2 whole

10 slices bacon

0.3 dl cognac

6.25 dl good white wine

5 dl chicken stock

3 tbsp. thyme leaves, fresh

3 bay leaves

2 tbsp. flour

1 tbsp. butter

1.8 dl cream

Salt

Pepper

 

 

Italian Seasoning

This Italian seasoning is a favorite of ours, when we cook lamb. It is also good for chicken and pork meat.

Ingredients

2 tbsp. dried oregano

2 tbsp. dried basil

2 tbsp. dried rosemary

2 tbsp. dried thyme

2 tbsp. coarse salt

2 tbsp. steak pepper

2 tbsp. chili flakes

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Store in an airtight contain at room temperature.

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Bon Appétit!

Spicy Drumsticks

Who don’t love drumsticks? Most people like drumstick in one way or the other. As we are chili ‘freaks’ we both love these spicy drumstick and the delicious marinade which we use as a dipping sauce.

If you are not used to eating chili every day, you might add less chili sauce and more honey. You can alway add more chili if you find it to mild, but it is more difficult to go the other way.

 

Ingredients (4 servings)

12 drumsticks

3 tbsp. hot chili sauce (today we’ve used Sriracha)

3 tbsp. honey

1 tbsp. good olive oil

4-6 garlic cloves, chopped

Juice from 1 lime

Salt

Pepper

 

Mix together chili sauce, honey, olive oil, chopped garlic, lime juice, salt and pepper in a bowl.  Add the drumsticks and mix well. Make sure that all drumsticks has been marinaded before covering the bowl with plastic wrap. Let rest in the fridge for at least an hour.

Cover a roasting pan with baking paper and put in the marinated drumsticks. Pour the remaining marinade over the drumsticks and bake in the oven for 55-60 minutes at 350 degrees fahrenheit. Turn the legs halfway to avoid the marinade from getting burned.

Pour the remaining marinade in a bowl and serve with the drumsticks as a dipping sauce.

Serve with your favorite side dishes like black bean salad, smoked beans or with celery and blue cheese dressing.

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Bon Appétit!