Stuffed Chicken Breasts, Latkes, Cajun Roasted Endive, and Herb Garlic Baguettes

Sometimes I will spend days planning a menu. I will spend so much time thinking about it and then spend a lot of time prepping and preparing the meal and I work myself up and expect it to be amazing. And every once in a while it doesn't taste nearly as great as I expected. And then comes the major letdown and disappointment from all of the wasted time. But then there are other times where I spend hardly any time at all thinking of a meal and it's basically just thrown together and it turns out as one of the best meals we've had. This was one of those times.

I remember a great stuffed chicken that I had at a restaurant so long ago and wanted to try to recreate it. I don't know if this tasted exactly like the restaurant's, but I do know that this was amazingly creamy and delicious and have already received a request from Joe to make it again. The latkes and spicy roasted endive were a great pairing with the rich chicken.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

5 Chicken Breasts

4 oz. goat cheese

1/2 package cream cheese

1 t. chopped chives

1 t. dried oregano

1 t. dried basil

1/2 t. dried rosemary

for baking:

1 stick butter, divided

1/4 t. celery salt

1/4 t. taragon

1/4 t. rosemary

1/4 t. oregano

1/4 t. thyme

1/4 t. garlic powder

1/2 t. season salt

1 TB worcestershire sauce

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Slice each chicken breast down the side almost all the way through so you can fill it, but it is still held together along one side. Mix together the filling: goat cheese, cream cheese, chives, oregano, basil, and rosemary. Fill each chicken breast with 1/5 of the filling.

In a skillet, heat 2 TB of the butter over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Quickly sear the chicken on both sides and then place into a greased baking dish.

Melt remainine 6 TB of butter and mix in taragon, celery salt, rosemary, oregano, season salt, thyme, garlic powder, and worcestershire sauce. Pour sauce over the chicken breasts in baking dish and place in oven. Cook until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear, about 25-30 minutes.

Latkes

(recipe from Saveur.com)

1 medium yellow onion3 large yukon gold potatoes (about 2 1⁄2 lbs.), peeled

Kosher salt, to taste

6 tbsp. finely chopped chives

3 tbsp. plain matzo meal (I just used bread crumbs)

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Freshly ground white pepper, to taste

Canola oil for frying

Sour cream or applesauce

1. Working over a bowl, grate some of the onion, followed by some of the potatoes, on the large-hole side of a box grater. Repeat until all the vegetables are used up.
2. Sprinkle mixture with salt and transfer it to a sieve set over a bowl. Squeeze out as much liquid as possible from mixture, allowing it to collect in bottom of bowl. Transfer mixture to another bowl and cover surface with plastic wrap; set aside. Set reserved potato liquid aside to let the milky white starch settle. Pour off liquid from starch. Transfer starch to mixture along with the chives, matzo, eggs, and salt and pepper. Gently mix.
3. Pour enough oil into a skillet that it reaches a depth of 1⁄4"; heat over medium-high heat. Working in small batches, form mixture into balls, using about 1⁄4 cup of the mixture for each, and place them in the oil. Flatten each ball gently with a spatula to form 3"–4" pancakes. Fry, turning once, until golden brown, crisp, and cooked through, about 8 minutes. Transfer the pancakes to a paper towel–lined plate to drain. Serve the potato pancakes with sour cream or applesauce.



Cajun Roasted Endive

4 heads of Belgian endive, cleaned

1/2 stick butter, melted

1 TB cajun seasoning

Heat oven to 450. Slice each endive, lengthwise, into 4 pieces. Place endive on a baking sheet and brush with melted butter. Sprinkle cajun seasoning over top and place in oven. Roast until endive is cooked through and slightly crispy, about 12-15 minutes.

Herb Garlic Baguettes

(from KA Mixer instruction book)

1pkg active dry yeast

1 tsp. sugar

¼ cup warm water (105-115 degrees)

3 1/4-3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbs chopped fresh basil or 1 tsp. dried basil

2 tsp chopped fresh oregano or ½ tsp dried oregano

2tsp chopped fresh thyme or ½ tsp dries thyme

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 tsp salt

¾ cup cold water

1 egg 1tsp water

Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water Place 3 1/4 cup flour, basil, oregano, thyme, garlic, and salt in bowl. Attach bowl and power knead spiral dough hook to mixer turn speed to 2 and mix 30 seconds stop and scrape bowl Continuing on speed 2 slowly add yeast mixture mixing about 30 seconds if dough is sticky add remaining ¼ cup flour. Knead on speed 2 about 3 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic.

Place dough in greased bowl turning over to grease top. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free of draft, 11/2 to 2 hours or until doubled in size. On lightly floured surface punch dough down several times to remove all air bubbles. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into 12-inch long loaf. Place each loaf on greased baking sheet or in greased baguette pans. With sharp knife make 3 to 4 shallow diagonal slices in top of dough. Beat egg and 1 tbls of water together with a fork. Brush each baguette with egg mixture cover with greased plastic wrap. Let rise in warm place, free of draft, about 1 to 1 ½ hours or until doubled in bulk.

Brush top of each baguette again with egg mixture. Bake at 450 for 15-18 minuets or until deep golden brown. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.

Yield: 36 servings (18 slices per loaf)