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 Krušovice. 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.

Meat Lovers Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Per Person:
1 large Chicken Breast, thawed, butterfly filleted
3 large shrimp: I use the pre-cooked frozen type. Do NOT thaw.
2-3 strips bacon
2 oz sausage, in slices
1 oz Irish cheddar cheese, sliced thin
1 tsp fresh garlic: I like a couple of cloves of fresh roasted garlic, but thin slices of raw garlic is fine.
1/2 tsp Cajun seasoning
salt & pepper

Fillet the chicken breast. Season inside and out with salt & pepper. Layer cheese shrimp, bacon & sausage on one side. Season the opposite side with Cajun seasoning and garlic.

Close the chicken breast and place on an oiled sheet. Cook 18 – 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

Review: I like how the flavors came out on this. I might add a teaspoon or two of mango or apricot jam, and this is one time it might be good for the chicken to be tied closed: it can get a little messy if you're not careful.

Basic Egg Hoosh

Serves Two hungry guys, or three gentle ladies.

Ingredients:

• 3 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
• 1/2 cup onion, diced.
• Bacon grease for frying garlic & onions
• Half a pound of bacon, fried and chopped into 3/8” chunks
• Six large eggs.
• 4 oz cheddar cheese (sharp is best), cubed
• 3 oz parmesan cheese, grated
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Fry up the garlic and onions on medium heat. Add the cooked, diced bacon. When it’s all hot, crack the eggs into the frypan. Add the cheddar cheese and do not stir yet. Season with salt & pepper to taste. When the eggs begin to cook on the bottom, begin to stir gently. As the eggs cook and the cheddar melts, add parmesan cheese.

Serve with more parmesan sprinkled on top, and/or some salsa next to it.

Review: I've been making this, and variants of this, for decades. Another name is "Clean Refrigerator Eggs": whatever you find goes in the eggs. This was what came together today, and it was perfect. I like it with a thin slice of homemade bread with homemade jam (the jam's her domain), and a glass of fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. Love it!

Tropical Cajun Chicken Breasts

Serves 2

Ingredients:
2 ea Chicken breasts
2 TBSP Cajun seasoning (I like Emeril Essence)
2 TBSP Mango preserves or jam
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Butterfly fillet the chicken breasts. Spread 1 TBSP mango jam inside each. Season with part of the Cajun seasoning. Cover jam and seasoning with 1/2 of the Parmesan for each piece.

Close the chicken breasts. Season top and bottom with the remainder of the Cajun seasoning. Bake on a greased, foil-covered sheet at 400 for 18 minutes; test for doneness, and bake more as needed.

Review: This is good, but it kind of needs something. I think I miss the bacon.

First Night of Camping Steak

I camp a lot. This is always the first night's meal. Serves one.

Ingredients:

12 - 18 oz sirloin steak (Yeh, I know it's big. that's the point, actually.)
some barbecue spiced pepper.
a small can of green beans. Carrots are an acceptable substitute. Spinach is not. Eww.
An onion bagel.

Implements of cookage:
Campfire with good coals and not a lot of flame.
Grille over the fire.
Tongs for grabbing stuff you drop in the fire.
Gloves to keep you from burning the hair off the back of your hand when you grab stuff from the fire.

Procedure:
Let the grill heat up while you're rubbing in a whole lot of spice into the steak. Use a can opener to open the beans, but leave the lid in place. Slice the bagel.

Plop the steak on the grille and enjoy the sizzle. Nestle the can of beans into the coals.

When the steak is cooked 2/3 of the way through, flip it over (once!) and put the bagel on the grille (sliced side down) to toast. Crack open any beverage you like as long as it comes in a long-necked brown bottle and does not include the word "Lite" on the label. Make sure the beans are beginning to boil. Sharpen your steak knife.

When the steak is done, pull it all off the grille and onto your plate.

Consume with enthusiasm. Skip the veggies if you feel like it.

Option: mix a little butter and bleu cheese (the crumbly, real stuff) together and let it melt on top of the steak for the last couple of minutes on the grille. Gorgonzola works well too. Mmm, mmm.

Bacon Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Ingredients: Serves 4:

• 4 Large chicken breasts
• 8 Strips bacon or prosciutto
• 8 Slices aged Irish cheddar (a hard, sharp white cheese)
• 8 cloves fresh garlic
• 4 tsp Mango jelly, or mango preserves
• Chipotle Tabasco Sauce
• Freshly grated parmesian cheese
• Chopped parsley for garnish
• George Foreman Grille

Oven or toaster oven

Directions:
Since I used Costco frozen chicken breasts, I defrosted them in the microwave while I grilled the bacon. When the chicken was thawed, slice them in half horizontally, like sandwich bread. Remove bacon from grille. Close the chicken breasts, and grille with the fresh garlic cloves on the George Foreman grille, in the bacon juices (most of the bacon fat has dripped out of the grille because of the design of the grille). Cook until the center of the chicken breasts are no longer pink.

While the chicken is grilling, preheat the oven to 400 and prepare the rest of the ingredients, which mostly means slice the cheese, and get the rest of the stuff out of the refrigerator. When the chicken is ready, open each breast like a sandwich. Spread 1 tsp mango jelly or preserves on one side. spread a little chipotle Tabasco on the other side. Layer bacon and Irish cheese slices.

Close the resulting "Chicken Sandwich"  and place on a foil-covered tray for baking. Bake until Irish cheese begins to soften. Remove from oven and cover in shredded Parmesan cheese mixed with parsley flakes or chopped parsley and continue baking until the Parmesan is melted.

Serve with Steam Train Porter or a quality microbrewed amber ale. Enjoy with friends.

Review: This may be the best thing I've ever done with chicken breasts. It was inspired by a night of movies and friends, and has itself inspired all the rest of the chicken breast experiments. Don't skip the mango jam: that's what makes this one shine.

Stockpot Chili

Basic Ingredients. Serves 4 hungry beasts or a good family meal with leftovers.

This is a smaller batch than this recipe is for.
The recipe's quantities will fill this pot FULL!

• 2 lb fairly lean hamburger
• 2 lb sage sausage
• 2 large white onion, chopped
• 4-10 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
• 1-2 large bell pepper, chopped (1/4” or so)
• 1-2 can beef broth, 15 oz (or water and concentrate)
• 2-3 can beans, 15 oz, drained, black, or pinto. Spiced is nice.
• 2 can diced tomatoes, 15 oz, undrained. Spiced is nice.
• 1 can tomato sauce, 8 oz
• 1-2 TBSP chili powder (or more)
• 1 can of chilies
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp to 1 TBSP cumin
• 1 – 4 TBSP chili powder
• Olive Oil if needed for frying

Maybe add some of these options. You do not want to add all of these in the same batch. Pick a couple.

• Corn, frozen or canned: a can or a small bag
• Some crumbled bacon: 3 slices to a pound
• Fried mushrooms: whatever you like. More is better.
• Coarsely chopped olives: some.
• Dark beer instead of beef broth
• 1 tsp oregano
• 2-4 tablespoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried leaf oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• Some Tabasco sauce: chipotle flavored is good. Less than a cup! Maybe a few teaspoons. How adventurous are you?

Serve with:

• Shredded cheddar and/or Monterrey Jack cheese
• Sour Cream
• Homemade sourdough bread

Dutch oven or stockpot. Big is good.

Directions:

Cook the hamburger and sausage and brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. Add the onions, peppers, garlic, spices and cook, stirring often, until onions are soft, about 4 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the broth (or beer) and cook until the foam subsides, about 1 minute. 

Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, broth, and kidney beans to the pot. Stir well and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the chili from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Add crumbled bacon, corn, olives if you like. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and adjust spices as necessary (roughly translated: add more of some of the spices if you like: boldness is good, but don’t get stupid). 

Simmer until vegetables are hot (and if using frozen corn, until it’s cooked).

Serve family style with bowls of shredded cheese, sour cream and maybe some more chopped onions. You might save the olives, fried mushrooms, and/or crumbled bacon for condiments, especially if you have finicky eaters.

Works best with a good amber ale or strong ale. Maybe an oatmeal stout.

Review: This is not so much a recipe as a launch point. Gather round your ingredients, and while the meat is simmering, make some executive decisions. Involve the family. There are a thousand excellent variations of this. 

This does really well if it's cooked all day, but it begins to all look the same. Recommended: save the corn, some beans, some of the peppers, olives if you use them, and add them half an hour before serving, to keep their shape and color, to make it look interesting. 

It's far better than anything I've ever had from a can or even from a restaurant!