31 March, 2008

Easter Steak Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Less subtle, more manly nourishment than the Bacon Stuff Chicken Breasts described earlier. These came about as a discovery resulting from Easter. We (aka "I") barbecued steak for thirty people for Easter dinner (why be a slave to tradition?), and it seems that thirty pounds of New York Steak was a bit much. The steak had been cooked to medium rare, having been gently seasoned with salt, pepper, some garlic powder, and a little of a commercial steak rub, then refrigerated for a couple of days. Serves 2 hungry guys. (Is there another kind of guys?)

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts, defrosted and sliced open (butterflied)
1 leftover Easter New York Steak (see above), cut into 1/4" strips
2 TBSP bacon grease
2 tsp mango papaya jam
4 oz sharp white cheese (we used a sharp cheddar made from raw milk)
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp chili powder
2 TBSP shredded Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste (don't be overly shy)
1 tsp brown deli mustard

Butterfly the chicken breasts, salt & pepper the insides. Cover one side with mango papaya jam and Parmesan cheese. Lay the slices of cold steak over the cheese. On the other side, layer chili powder, rosemary, and sharp white cheddar cheese. Close the chicken breast. Stall for time until your wife leaves the kitchen; then coat the outside - top and bottom - with bacon grease. Add pepper or a pepper mix to taste. Grill on a hot grille for long enough that the chicken is cooked and the steak is hot: it was about 7 minutes for me in one of those George Foreman Grilles, and the bacon grease all melted off anyway, except that the taste was still in the chicken, and it held the pepper in place pretty well.

Review: I kind of figure that chicken calls for a light beer (like an amber ale, or a German hefeweizen), and that steak calls for something darker: an oatmeal stout would have been good with this New York steak (except that it was a family gathering at Easter). A Dunkel (dark hefeweizen) would be good here, or a dark Czech lager like KruĊĦovice. The steak stuffed chicken breasts were wonderful: not at all over-the-top for a meat lover, though my sweetheart looked at me oddly when I talked about adding bacon next time.

No comments: