Stuff It!! Day 23!!!

Hello Food Diary and Hungry Bloggers!!

Pounding my chicken breast!

It is day 23 and once again our main focus is on chicken (bawk, bawk). Today was kind of a cool day! As many times as I have cooked chicken in my life...I have never done what we did today! On our menu was a Ballotine stuffed (de-boned) chicken leg with a pecan butter, and a Chicken breast Roulade stuffed with Duxelle (a minced mushroom stuffing) - everything was served together with glazed carrots and roasted Peruvian potatoes. To start off I had to make my stuffing and get my veggies going. So I cut my carrots, got them on the stove and started roasting my potatoes. Then I had to de-bone my chicken leg...not such an easy task (and kind of gross). To de-bone you have to cut the meat away from the bone little by little being careful not to puncture the skin of the chicken (you don't want any holes when you are stuffing).

Me and my Pig Stomach
 Lining...Yummy!

Roulade wrapped in pig stomach lining.
My little "present"

Once That was done I had to pound out my chicken breast - this needed to be super thin so I could stuff it and roll it. Now that my chicken was all prepped and ready, it was time to stuff those babies! I nicely packed my de-boned leg full of pecan butter (Sauted shallots, garlic, chopped pecans, parsley, bread crumbs and butter). Then seasoned it and put it in the oven. Then I moved on to my roulade. I placed my Duxelle in the middle of my flattened chicken breast and rolled it up. Now here is the coolest part!!!! I took a grotesque looking pig stomach lining and wrapped up my roulade like a nice little present! :) It looks so nasty...but tastes so good! I took my little "present" and sauted it until browned and crisp on the outside, then finished it in the oven with my stuffed leg. Those took about 30 minutes to finish cooking.
By that time I had all of my side dishes finished. I let my chickens rest for a few minutes while I made my sauce...then plated everything! Looked yummy! I handed my plate to chef and she said "looks wonderful." She tasted my roulade first and said it was "really good and nicely seasoned" Then she moved on to my Ballotine. "You over cooked it. Don't base you cooking time on the temperature of the stuffing, but the feel of the chicken.Otherwise good flavor." I wasn't used to cooking chicken in this way, so it was a new concept for me...and I needed to work on it. Not a bad critique...I was pretty happy! I tasted my food when she was done and it was sooo good! It was hard to stop eating and move on to my clean up!

I will leave you with a word of advice...


“The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.”


(I felt like this was a good cooking quote... patience is a virtue, and is very helpful in the kitchen...plus it's chicken day..so a chicken reference makes it all the more relevant! ) :)


Bon Appetit!

- Chef Kass In Training!