Superb Stuffed Chicken

Superb Stuffed Chicken

It's an Anniversary dinner at the Moore house tonight! This is our 'special' dinner that reminds us of Antigua - where we were married. It's a little putsy, but absolutely delicious. Chicken breasts are stuffed with a cheesy asparagus and mushroom filling and then wrapped in puff pastry and served with a white wine mustard sauce. Puff pastry is readily available at local grocery stores and comes in packages of 2 sheets which is plenty for 4 servings. The marscapone cheese gives this dish a very rich taste but can be easily replaced with either all parmesean, gruyere, goat or cream cheese. You need to make sure that you each pouch is completely sealed to reduce leaking of the filling. I like to serve this with just a side of roasted asparagus. Sprinkle asparagus with a few splashes of olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in a hot oven (450 degrees) until desired doness. It's the best way to eat asparagus - it has so much flavor! You can always put a few splashes of balsamic vinegar or fresh lemon juice on after for a little kick. It's a pretty filling dish - so I would recommend against a starch like potatoes or rice. A simple salad would be a great accompaniment too!

origin - mrs. moore's kitchen
difficulty - medium to hard *if you're familiar with puff pastry, this can take practice.

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 sheets puff pastry
1 shallot finely chopped
1 tbsp butter or splash of olive oil
3-4 stalks asparagus roughly chopped
4-6 cremini mushrooms roughly chopped
1/2 cup marscapone cheese
1/4 cup shredded parmesean cheese
1/2 tsp thyme
1-2 tbsp finely chopped parsley - I prefer italian parsley, if you don't have either you can omit.
salt/pepper to taste
splash of white wine
1 egg beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut a pocket horizantally into each chicken breast. Salt/pepper them inside and out. Prepare filling - saute asparagus, mushrooms, and shallot in butter until softened over medium heat. Add salt, pepper, thyme and splash of white wine - cook just until the wine is evaporated. Cool to room temperature and then mix in the marscapone, parmesean, and parsley. Stuff each chicken breast with the filling - if the filling is too soft, refrigerate for 15-20 minutes. Next cut pastry sheets in half and roll out lightly. You may need to put a little flour on the counter/rolling pin. Place chicken breast on the bottom half of the pastry sheet and fold over to cover completely. press edges down and cut off excess - you should have a half circle. Pinch the dough around the edges and create a 'pie crust' like edge (you can always seal the edges by pressing the tines of a fork down on the edges). Place on well greased cookie sheet and continue with remaining chicken breasts. Brush the tops with an egg wash to create a shiny golden crust. Bake for 35-45 minutes depending on the size of the chicken breasts. Serve with white wine mustard sauce (recipe follows).

white wine mustard sauce
1 cup white wine
2 tbsp dijon mustard - whole grain is tasty!
1/2 cup light cream
salt/pepper

Combine mustard and white wine in a hot pan and reduce until the alcohol smell is gone. Add the cream, salt and pepper and simmer until slightly thickened.