Instead of Corned Beef for St. Patrick's Day. Irish Chicken Rolls
CÉAD MILE FÁILTE
A hundred, thousand welcomes
One of my March 2012 recipes for www.BeyondCeliac.com plus for Feb 28, 2019 Nashua Telegraph Encore food and fun supplement, with an article on my family in Ireland.
This recipe came about because I was asked for a gift certificate for a Dinner Party as a Wedding present. The groom was of Irish descent and the givers thought it would be nice to offer an Irish themed meal, since they knew that both my parents were born and raised in Southern Ireland even though I have a British accent. The only problem was that neither Bride nor Groom really ate meat or fish – which are fairly common staples in Ireland. I created this to take the place of the roast chicken we would have on Sundays with vegetables fresh from the kitchen garden and mushrooms freshly picked that day from the river field while the cows were being milked. Mushrooms in the wild tend to continue to grow in the same area even when you pick them so you can go back to the same spots every few days for fresh mushrooms.
I was at our local library last night and people said they'd seen my article and a French lady told me she had made my Irish chicken and it was delicious.
IRISH CHICKEN ROLLS
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, preferably under 8oz each in weight.
2 slices bread or soft roll made into soft breadcrumbs in food processor.
2 slices bacon, thinly scissored – I use Oscar Meyer center cut or Jones Dairy Farm
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley
½ teaspoon dried or 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 tablespoon celery leaves if you have them
¼ c flour mixed with salt and pepper – I use rice flour, cheaper than gf blends.
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons oil
12 oz packet of mushrooms, either button or baby portabello or crimini, cleaned and sliced. Baby mushrooms left whole are very attractive.
2 c chicken stock – I use Orrington's stock concentrate, labeled gf, ~$4 for 12 oz tub at Market Basket.
1 c heavy or whipping cream
2 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp water. Argo is labeled gf.
2 tablespoons sherry or more to taste
freshly ground nutmeg
fresh parsley to garnish
Baby carrots - optional
1.Pound chicken breasts thin between 2 sheets of saran wrap.Thinner chicken cooks quicker, stays moister and is more tender since you have actually broken the fibers of the chicken by pounding.
2. Place bacon and onion in a microwave safe bowl and cook in microwave for about 3 minutes until bacon is giving up its fat and onion is softening.
3. Add fresh chopped parsley, thyme, celery, breadcrumbs and pepper. Mix well. I normally don’t add salt because of the bacon. Fresh herbs can be put in processor with bread so both are chopped at the same time.
4. Lay out each chicken breast. Spread stuffing out down the middle of each breast but try not to let it reach to the very edges as more filling will fall out. Then roll up each breast like a jelly roll and secure with a skewer. Use stainless steel skewers that can be washed and reused. Don’t wash skewers in dishwasher, they can fall down into the engine and break the dishwasher. It happened to me. Wooden toothpicks will swell in chicken and be difficult to remove.
5. Turn each roll in seasoned flour. Heat 10” non-stick skillet over medium heat, melt butter and oil, add each chicken roll and cook turning until nicely golden brown on each side- about 3 minutes.
6. Add mushrooms and fry for 2 minutes. You can add baby carrots to pan with mushrooms. Add chicken stock, bring to a boil, turn heat down to a simmer, cover and cook for 10 -15 minutes. Huge chicken breasts will need longer to cook. Do check- if you poke a knife into center of chicken, clear juices should run out, not bloody.
7. Remove chicken from pan to a warm plate or very low oven.
8. Add cream and cornstarch mix. Bring to a boil and cook over a gentle heat until sauce thickens. Add sherry and nutmeg, stir well, taste and adjust seasoning. Cook sauce for about 2 minutes after you add sherry to allow alcohol to cook out and sherry flavor to mellow.
9. Remove skewer from each breast, cut in half on a diagonal or into 4 slices. Serve on individual plates with sauce to garnish. Sprinkle with fresh parsley.
To reduce bad fat calories.
Use Canadian bacon or ham instead of bacon.
Use only olive oil for browning chicken.
Reduce quantity of cream and increase quantity of stock.
Use cornstarch and water to thicken sauce, not flour and butter. But do try the original recipe first.
Turn chicken in whole wheat or white whole wheat flour to increase nutritional content. Whole wheat flour will also add to the finished color of chicken.
Add ½ - 1 tsp Szego paprika (not hot variety) to flour mix to make color of chicken more appetizing. Szego paprika has very little flavor so it will not fight with the recipe.
