Coaching Cooking

Sometimes making a dish with whatever’s on hand turns out beautifully. Monique came over on Sunday to help us put together some IKEA furniture (only 35 steps plus insanity!). So I made this chicken dish with some goat cheese, fig jam, carmelized sweet onions and chicken breast.

Chicken breast goes down as one of the most boring foods of all time….unless you season well and add lots of goodies. Try this one at home when you have extra goat cheese and something else delicious to go with it (try shallots or chopped chives plus sauteed garlic and figs or another fruit that you like).

Goat-cheese Stuffed Chicken with Figs and Caramelized Onions

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts, lightly pounded to 1/2 inch thick
4 tablespoons of goat cheese (or 4 half-inch thick slices from a goat cheese log)
2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
4 tablespoons of flour
4 tablespoons of fig jam
2 medium-sized onions
2 tablespoons of chopped chives
salt and pepper to taste
toothpicks

Directions:

This recipe comes together easily with ingredients on hand (so experiment with different cheeses or fruit jams!).

Cook the onions first. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a small, nonstick saucepan on medium-low heat. Add the onions and let them cook without stirring for at least 7-10 minutes. The onions will start to slowly caramelize and brown. Resist the urge the stir. The onions are done when they are translucent and brown with that distinctive caramel color and scent. Set the onions aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

First, coat the chicken breasts lightly with flour. Pan-fry the chicken breasts in some vegetable oil (about 2-3 tablespoons) so that the chicken is browned on one side and cooked, but not brown on the other side. Place the chicken breasts, browned sides down, on a cutting board. Spread the tops of the chicken with goat cheese and then place one tablespoon of fig jam per chicken breast in the center of each breast. Top each chicken breast with several spoonfuls of caramelized onions. Roll each chicken breast (keeping the fig jam carefully in the center) and secure with two toothpicks. Bake in the oven for about 5 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the cheese is bubbly (test the chicken with a knife to make sure the centers are cooked).

Serve with creamy mashed potates, a roasted green vegetable and your favorite wine. Enjoy!