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Slightly overcooked bacon; floor shot |
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The blue cheese crumbles are smoked, hence the brownish tinge. And just two slices of bacon. We're all adults here. |
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Compound indeed. |
More after the jump...
Anyway, here's another visual.
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I think this is referred to as a "butterflied" chicken breast, but I find it most helpful when referred to as cutting the breast open "like a book." |
Above is the breast after I folded it over and secured it with three toothpicks. Yes, this is a big mamma jamma---that's an 8" glass casserole dish. Part of our "budget cooking" is surrendering the organic, free-range stuff on most occasions. So.. that's one huge, huge piece of laboratory chicken. I'm sure we'll return to the more respectable stuff once we have jobs.
I browned the chicken before baking because pale chicken is super depressing. However, as you can see, I'm completely bonkers for the Maillard reaction, and I may have gone a little overboard. Someone (me) got distracted with Captain's Log: Part Two items that the chicken got kinda burned. Okay, a lot burned.
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Also, see all that liquid in the pan? Some of it's chicken juices, but I suspect most of it is butter which seeped out once the chicken got hot. Duh! I blame Claire Robinson for poor conception. |
Here's an insider peek.
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Rogue pea. |
Conclusion: It was good, but not great, in large part due to problems with execution (way too big of a chicken breast, burned, butter seeping out). If I were to do this again, I may just do cheese/onion/bacon only, with no butter, and I think those items would work better as a topping than as a stuffing. How does one even eat a stuffed chicken breast, anyway? It's packaged as "fancy chicken" in restaurants but I believe you could get much better flavor and improved eatability by putting all the delicious add-ons on top, then broiling it at the end so the cheese gets browned and bubbly.
Stay tuned for Part Two!
Stay tuned for Part Two!
Say what? I thought you were holding that bacon up because it was perfectly cooked! I love crispy bacon. MMM and this looks delish!
ReplyDeletePlease forward leftovers to the dadblogger...It looks soooo good!
ReplyDelete