Chicken Breasts stuffed with bleu cheese, figs, and walnuts

I guess if I had to explain this recipe inspiration, I’d say it’s the dried figs and bleu cheese sitting in my fridge and the chicken in my freezer.  I’ve been getting a tangy, creamy bleu cheese (blue cheese) from a Minnesota creamery that rivals European bleus.  The figs are organic but, sadly, all the way from California.  The pasture-raised chicken came from Falling Sky Farm in Marshall, Arkansas.  All of the ingredients are available either certified organic or, like the chicken, organically raised without certification.  Together the ingredients meld into an elegant dish that might work for date night.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
• 1-2 teaspoons good red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey (or less–the figs already make this dish sweet)
• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
• seasoning:  salt, pepper, dried oregano
• 2-4 garlic cloves, crushed (We thought 4, sliced, was too much.)
• 6 dried figs, cut into bite-sized pieces and soaked in 1/4 cup brandy or marsala (non-alcohol alternative:  use 2 tablespoons of apple juice and 2 tablespoons of wine vinegar)
• 2 ounces of crumbled bleu cheese (alternative:  try goat cheese!)
• 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Method

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Pound the chicken breast between plastic wrap until it is thinned to be about double its non-pounded size.  Lightly sprinkle on salt, pepper, and dried oregano on the inside.  Spread the fig pieces (save the brandy or marsala!), crumbled bleu cheese, crushed garlic and walnuts over about half of the chicken breast.  Roll up the chicken sushi-style, stuffed side first, and position it in the baking pan with the seam on the underside.  I used a 2-quart Dutch oven and was able to push the ends of the roll into the pan sides, helping to hold in the bleu cheese. Lightly sprinkle the outside with salt, pepper, and dried oregano.  If any figs fell out during the rolling process, put them in the pan too.

Mix together the mustard, honey, red wine vinegar, and brandy or marsala left over from soaking the figs.  Spread half of the mixture over the top of the rolled-up chicken.  Reserve the rest for basting.

Bake chicken in a 325 degree F oven for about 40 minutes, basting every 5 or 10 minutes while the chicken bakes.  Cut the chicken on an angle into 2 or 3 servings.

I served this chicken with a hearty whole-wheat roll a big salad of mesclun and grated radish and carrots.

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Golden Chicken with dried apricots and mushrooms

Somehow when you combine a few ingredients and a few spices from the pantry in a Dutch oven, you can get a dish that is much greater than the sum of its parts:  it comes out golden brown, with its own sauce and a blend of flavors that are comforting and tangy and potentially a little exotic.  I call this version Golden Chicken.  It has dried apricots and  mushrooms, and it’s delicious served over a good rice blend, quinoa, rice pilaf, or whole-wheat couscous.  All of the ingredients work seasonally too, since dried fruit is every season.

serves 2-4

Spice blend:

• two pinches each of paprika and cayenne pepper (ground fine)
• one pinch each of salt, freshly ground black pepper, allspice, cinnamon, coriander, turmeric, and cumin–you can use more or less depending on how you like the spice, but just remember to go light with the allspice.

The Rest of the Ingredients:

• 2 chicken leg quarters, whole or cut into drumstick and thigh (or 4 chicken thighs, two chicken breasts, each cut in half, etc.)
• olive oil
• 1 medium sweet yellow onion, quartered and cut into thin wedges
• 8 dried apricots
• 8 portobellini mushrooms, quartered
• 1 heaping tablespoon of potato flour
• scant half cup dry white wine (pour a half cup, take a sip, and call it scant!).  Option:  If you do not drink alcoholic beverages, you can mix half white grape juice with half apple cider vinegar for a similar flavor–that is, 1/4 cup of each.

Begin by heating a 2-quart cast iron Dutch oven over medium high heat.  Sprinkle the spices on the chicken on both sides.  Add just enough olive oil to the Dutch oven to coat the bottom lightly, and put in the chicken, skin side down.  Brown well and then turn to brown the other side.

Add the onions, wedges broken up.  Put about half of the onions under the chicken and about half on top.  Let the onion cook a few minutes while you cut the apricots into halves or quarters, depending on size.  Now turn off the heat and add the apricot pieces on top of the chicken and onions.  Sprinkle the potato flour on the dish. Now pour on the wine, making sure to use it to wash off any flour that is unattractively sprinkled.  Toss on the mushrooms too. Bake at 325-350 degrees for about 40 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the chicken is 165 degrees.  If you want, toast some almonds for garnish.

Mmmmmmmm.  Here’s the chicken, out of the oven.

I like to serve this chicken and its fruity, mushroomy golden sauce over a nice rice blend, like brown rice with wild rice.  You can make your own blend or buy one like Lundberg’s. (They are not paying me.  They don’t even know who I am, but they do grow good rice.) If you serve rice with beans, you can increase your protein from veggie sources and eat less chicken.No, I did not overcook the beans.  They’re wax beans.  Mmmmmmmm.

This dish is perfect for families that want to branch out from traditional chicken.  Not counting the rice, it’s an easy one-dish meal that even the younger family members can make.  If you’re cooking with kids, let them try the spices before they add them to the blend and decide which ones they want to include.

Camping Dutch Oven Directions (2-quart Dutch oven)

I made this recipe on the stove top this time, but you can also take it camping.  Follow the directions above, but start out with 5-6 coals on the bottom only, to brown the chicken on both sides.  Then add in the rest of the ingredients (taking care to put half the onions on the bottom, as noted above, to prevent the chicken from burning), put on the lid, and add 7-9 coals to the top.  You’ll need to rotate the whole Dutch oven a quarter turn every 10-15 minutes and the top a quarter turn every 10-15 minutes to avoid hot spots.  Remember, the number of coals you’ll need and your cook time will be dependent on your coals; they’re not all created equal. Do you need a beginner camping Dutch oven recipe first?  Try this one.

Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader.  Short excerpts with full URL link and attribution to Ozarkhomesteader are welcome.  Please contact me for permission to use photographs.

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Are You Going to Eat That? News Flash: The Majority of Commercial Chicken Is Contaminated

In the past few days, Consumer Reports came out with an analysis of commercial chicken contamination.  Despite the fact that commercial chickens are dunked in bleach, the majority of them tested still had dangerous bacteria.  Was there any good news?  Yes, air-chilled chicken had less.  Organic chicken had almost none.  Studies in cattle have shown that pasture-raising decreases dangerous bacteria both because of how the cattle are raised and what they eat.  It looks like now the same is true for chickens.  No doubt too the careful handling that small processors give their chickens in the butchering process helps reduce contamination too.  If you want to see the New York Times Well piece, go here. The full Consumer Reports article is here.

If you have not found a good source for local, pasture-raised, farmer-certified organic poultry, try using the Locally Grown network.  I have been so pleased with every bird we’ve gotten from Falling Sky Farm in Marshall, Arkansas.  The birds are packaged beautifully, the organs have healthy color, and the birds themselves just taste better.  For more on your options wherever you are located, see here.

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Fresh Mex for a Hot Summer Day

Temperatures have been pushing 100 degrees F in the Ozarks for the past week, and every meal I’ve planned has needed to be nutritious but cooling.  One night, I made a “fresh Mex” meal using good stuff we had on hand, like corn, serrano pepper, watermelon, tomatoes, peaches, and cucumber.  I started by making my own “Cool as a Cucumber” Soup.  Then I assembled a cold corn-bean-peach salad.  I also cut some greens and grilled some chicken and chicken chorizo (in the air conditioning!).  The final refreshing component of the meal was a Melon-rita.  Recipes follow.  So do pictures—please pardon the blur and exposure.  I’d say the flaws were due to the Melon-Ritas, but I hadn’t had any yet when I took the pictures.

Cool as a Cucumber Soup

This soup requires no cooking at all.  Nope, none.

Ozark Homesteader's Cool-As-A-Cucumber Soup

Makes 2 cup-sized servings

½ good-sized pickling cucumber (no wax!)

bunch of garlic chives

sour cream, buttermilk, or yogurt (use what you have!  I like a combination)

chicken broth for thinning, if needed

pinch of good ranch mix, like Simply Organic

salt and pepper to taste

Chop the cucumber and garlic chives roughly and then place them in a blender cup (not the whole blender for this size recipe).  Add sour cream, buttermilk, and/or yogurt to the fill line (about 1 to 1 ½ cups).  Add in the pinch of powdered ranch mix or your own seasonings.  Puree.  Taste.  If you think the soup is too thick, dilute it with  a little chicken broth.  I did not find this step necessary. Add salt and pepper as you like.  Puree again.  Refrigerate until time for supper.

Corn-Bean-Peach Salad

Corn-Bean-Peach Salad

Serves 4

two fresh ears sweet corn

½ can unseasoned beans (black, kidney:  use what you have!)

½ sweet yellow onion

1 medium tomato, skin on if you are eating homegrown organic

1 fresh, sweet peach

1-2 hot peppers (serrano, jalapeno)

1 grated carrot (if you have a fresh carrot)

½ bell pepper

small bunch of cilantro (substitute parsley if you don’t like cilantro)

one stem fresh oregano, leaves only

olive oil and vinegar, no more than 1 Tablespoon each

Roast the corn.  I wrapped mine in aluminum foil and baked it for about 20 minutes.)

Meanwhile drain and rinse the beans, clean and chop the onion, peach, tomato, and peppers.  Chop the cilantro and oregano with the onion and try to get all three very fine.  I use one of those chop wizard things for this task. Once the corn has cooled, cut it off the cob.  Begin by making medium cuts down the cob.  Then go back and scrap the cob.  Toss everything together and put it in the fridge for at least two hours.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Fresh-Mex Salad

Begin with a bed of good greens—sturdy lettuce if you have it or another green like chard.  Top with grilled sweet onions sauteed with chicken breast and chicken choriza.

Chicken breast, chicken chorizo, and onions

Pile on the Corn-Bean-Peach salad.  Add guacamole, good ranch dressing, tortilla chips, or nothing at all.  Eat!

Fresh-Mex Meal

Melon-Rita

Get out that blender again, but this time we’re going to use the big jar.  Start with about a quarter cup each triple sec, tequila, and good lime juice.  Add chunks of watermelon to the fill line.  Yes, this will be about ½ a bambino watermelon.  Blend until smooth.  Taste.  Adjust to your likes, remembering that your sweet is coming from the Triple Sec.  Refrigerate until you are ready to drink.  Serve over ice.  Freeze leftovers, and you’ll have a great watermelon-rita slushy.

Meat and Three

By the way, this meal is another example of the Southern classic “meat and three,” which provides great protein and nutrition with meat as a flavoring, not the main focus of the dish.  You could even leave out the meat altogether and still meet your nutritional needs.  Southerners ate this way because they often did not have fresh meat and it was a frugal way to stay healthy.

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