Stuffed chicken breasts

I haven't really made any stuffed chicken breasts in the past but it seems like one of the most flexible, easy-to-do (even on a weeknight after work) kind of meals so I am going to try a few variations. I recently saw a recipe that basically said, choose any variation of: sundried tomato, mushrooms, roasted red pepper adn add some sort of cheese (ricotta, mozz and fontina being recommended). Questions: Does anyone have any favorites or suggestions? Should I be concerned with adding some sort of sauce or are most stuffed breasts O.K. on their own? Should I coat them in flour or breadcrumb or somethign, or is that just another part of the flexibility? Thanks!

[Greg]

Used to do a wild mushroom and brie stuffed free-range chicken breast with a chicken stock reduction. Very good, but didn't sell for some reason. One trick we came up with was to wrap the chicken breast in caul fat, helps keep everything inside.

[Nick.Shu]

I like these types of stuffing:

Pesto, sundried tomatoes, toasted almond crumbs and rice.

Chicken mince, mushroom duxelle (fried with sesame oil) ginger

I made stuffed turkey breasts with turkey mince, garlic, cranberries, crushed macadamia nuts, bacon fat and sun dried tomatoes once. The turkey stuffing also makes a very good sausage meat

[Nick.Shu]

you may also want look at your approach of cookery with the stuffed breasts - are you going to fry them, are you going to make a roulade and poach them before roasting in the oven, these things will dictate to you what you are going to stuff them with, etc.

[shroomgirl]

Garlic herb cheese (boursin type) with a dillweed and white wine, chicken stock, sauce
just light season and flour brown in a skillet and put liquid in and bake 10-15 minutes 350*
Simple and easy it's a crowd pleaser.

Here's a really simple one: stuff the chicken breasts with fontinella cheese and wrap them in prosciutto. Fry them stove top in a little olive oil till done. If you want a quick sauce to cover, add a little white wine until it's reduced and then some heavy cream, salt & pepper. A little of the fontinella will have spilled out of the breasts to flavor the sauce "just right."

[nutcakes]

Most stuffed recipes I see call for boneless breasts, which I find dry and sometimes tasteless, so I have not tried that. Please post back if you have any luck. I had good luck splitting a whole bone-on, skin-on breast and stuffing under the skin with mushroom duxelle and fontina cheese. Very tasty. I like the pan sauce idea from Angelina.

Thank you all for your replies, I will be trying some of these ideas. Last weekend I tried something, and it turned out pretty good, despite the fact that I have little idea what I'm doing and I was just winging it. I was making mushroom barley soup that day so I decided to stuff the breasts with mushrooms (crimini and oyster). At the suggestion of the woman behind the cheese counter I tried manchego (sp?) cheese with my mushrooms. I seared the breasts(sort of) and then transfered to the oven to finish. From the mushroom barley soup I had made, my bottle of madeira and a little extra chicken stock were sitting next to the stove, so I used those for a pan sauce. It was the best pan sauce I ever had and the chicken wasn't bad either. I did a very poor job of cutting the breasts open, and I did not pound them out after I cut them, which I think I should do in the future. Other than that, it was very very good.

Nutcakes, since my husband moved me to the Southwest, I've found grocery shopping a challenge. There are no familiar labels and there isn't an Italian deli on every corner. Sheesh! It's been work finding everyday ingredients I took for granted in Chicago. The chicken I've had the best luck with out here is Butterball. The company injects them with chicken boullion to keep them tender and moist. If I have to remove the breasts myself, I always marinate them for 24 hours in chicken stock. They soak up the extra juices and are served moist, tender and cooked thru.

[cape chef]

Try this. After pounding the chicken breast gently, season and fill with whatever floats your boat. roll it and then wrap it in tin foil,crimp the ends to form a uniform log. you can sear this on stove top then pop in a hot oven until done (springs back to touch)and then let rest in the foil for 5/6 minutes unwrap and slice. This method helps hold in the moisture and gives a nice look to your finished plate

[nutcakes]

Angelina, I feel your pain--(aside from the point that it sounds like your husband dragged you there by the hair). I live in foodie land, of course, and get local hormone-free chickens readily--I could not think of buying Butterball, but I do buy Foster Farms for the freezer for emergencies. A naturally raised 4# chicken will be $9 and worth it. I am 6 blocks from 3 old Italian Deli's, and Chinatown is at my feet, 1 block away. I have started shopping sometimes at the fish markets there, although it is confusing, and I found a poultry shop, where the birds are grown on a Petaluma farm specifically to their direction--they prep them like kosher chickens and these were free-range long before it was fashionable. I also found a Chinese pork butcher that is impeccable. I can get pork neck bones for my Italian gravy for very cheap.

That is why I can get a whole bone-on, skin-on breast, so I can create a pocket in the skin for stuffing.

Rather than soaking the chicken in boullion, I would try a brine.

[This message has been edited by nutcakes (edited October 15, 2000).]