Follow Your Creativity Not the Recipe!

I found a recipe by Mark Bittman in the NYT that got me thinking. The article heading was, “For Moister Chicken, Tuck the Flavor Inside”. There were three easy techniques he used, an herb compound butter stuffed under the skin of a bone-in skin-on chicken breast. A boneless skinless chicken breast smeared with a tapenade lookalike and folded over and finally a Japanese inspired chicken breast wrapped around a scallion and cooked.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/dining/18mini.html?emc=eta1

It was Sunday and I wasn’t ready for a Japanese meal but I still wanted to wrap my chicken around a scallion. I stared into the fridge, willing an ingredient to jump into my mind. I settled on an appetizer spread we had eaten the previous night. It was a goat cheese, lemon, artichoke goop that was flavorful and would fit the bill. I lay the chicken breast out and cut it into thick slices and pounded them thin.Next I cut them into pieces about 3” long and spread them with the cheese mixture. A sprinkle of S&P topped a slice of scallion and they were ready to be rolled and tooth picked.

Now I had a dilemma. These were not neat and clean rolls, the cheese mixture had an ooze factor not found in the original recipe. So I did the next best thing and rolled them in flour, egg, and Panko. As you can see the “recipe” had taken a big morph.

Frying up these morsels took no time. They were juicy and fun to eat. I served them with chopped red and yellow tomatoes splashed with balsamic and chiffonade basil, haricot verts tossed with sautéed shallots and butter and a dessert of fresh peaches and almond flavored whipped cream.

Next time I really must follow Bittman’s Japanese version but until then I’ll be playing with this scallion wrapped chicken idea.