Always Read the Entire Recipe!

When teaching classes at Viking, I always stress the importance of reading the entire recipe, not just the ingredients list, prior to starting to cook. Unfortunately I did not follow my own instructions yesterday while selecting recipes  for a client.

I am always on the look out for new recipes for my clients, especially my weekly client. I want to keep their menu fresh and exciting, so when I found a recipe for Baked Chicken Kiev on Pinterest I was excited.

I arrived at my client's home with my recipes and game plan in hand. Everything was cooking along just fine until I got to this recipe and read beyond the ingredients! Oy!! The directions had a compound butter being made and frozen, chicken being pounded, prepared butter being placed on the pounded chicken and refrigerated for two hours. Well obviously I didn't have that kind of time so I made some changes to the directions.

Here's the recipe as I found it on Pinterest, with the changes I made in red type.

Baked Chicken Kiev

recipe adapted from Alton Brown

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted and cooled for the coating

1 teaspoon fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 teaspoon fresh tarragon, finely chopped

1 teaspoon garlic powder, plus extra for seasoning chicken

1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning chicken

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

2 large whole eggs, beaten with 1 teaspoon water

2 cups Japanese bread crumbs (panko)

1/4 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese

Combine butter, parsley, tarragon, garlic powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper in the bowl of a stand mixer and whip together. Place mixture on plastic wrap or waxed paper and roll into small log; place in freezer.

Cut butter into pieces. Chop herbs and combine with seasonings.

Place chicken breasts, 1 at a time, between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Squirt chicken lightly with water and squirt the top of the plastic wrap as well. Pound to no less than 1/8-inch thickness. Season each piece of chicken with salt and pepper.

Cut a pocket into each chicken breast.

Lay 1 chicken breast on a new piece of plastic wrap and place 1/5 of the compound butter and 1 tablespoon bread crumbs in the center of each breast. Using the plastic wrap to assist, fold in ends of breast and roll breast into a log, completely enclosing the butter; roll very tightly. Repeat with each breast. Place chicken in refrigerator for 2 hours, or up to overnight. Wrap up the remaining 1/5 of the compound butter to use for the breading.

Place butter pieces into pockets and sprinkle with herbs and seasonings.

Place egg and water mixture in 1 pie pan. Melt the remaining 1/5 of the compound butter and add it to the 2 cups panko and Parmesan cheese in a different pie pan. Stir the butter with the panko and cheese to fully combine.

Dip each breast in the egg mixture and then roll in the buttered panko. Gently place each breast on a baking sheet, sealed-side down, and bake in 350 degree oven until golden brown, approximately 15-20 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. Serve hot.

Bake for 35 minutes.

Here is a photo of how my version turned out. Not too bad!



Baked Chicken Kiev

Lesson learned...always read the entire recipe!