Chicken Breasts in Phyllo

Out of all the recipes that I have blogged about, Chicken Breasts in Phyllo was one that was more time consuming. It may have just been me, and the little distractions here and there. Or maybe even because it was my first time working with Phyllo dough. Once Phyllo thaws out it is a pretty delicate ingredient. But once it is baked, the lite flakiness is just so tasty.

There are two different mixtures you will have going into this recipe. One will be your combination of ingredients for your chicken. The other will be your melted butter to use on your Phyllo dough.

I did not use as much chicken that the recipe called for. I used about 7 small breasts and I actually cut those in half. I was not sure how they would fit into the Phyllo dough.

You will notice that if you use the amount of chicken that the recipe calls for, you will not have as much left over sauce that you will put on your chicken. I had a nice amount leftover that probably could have made about four more chicken breasts. Oh well,  now I know.

In this mixture that will soon be put onto your chicken breasts, there was an ingredient that I have never used and actually I do not even really know what type of taste it added. Terragon was the spice. I read up on this spice/herb. It can be used on some specific types of meat, chicken and fish being two and is used in lasagna dishes as well. Terragon and I have a lot in common, we like hot sunny spots, with not a lot of water. Sounds like a nice living environment hot, sunny not a lot of rain!!

You will set this mixture aside and get your phyllo dough out and ready to be stuffed.

When you unroll your phyllo dough, you will notice it may flake off a little. Just be gentle and roll it all out. You will melt your butter and lay out a sheet of phyllo dough, and brush the butter all over to cover the whole piece of dough. You will put another layer of phyllo dough on top and repeat with the butter.

I used unsalted butter, the only thing i noticed was that maybe I should have used salted butter because that was the one ingredient I felt that I did not have enough of, was salt!

Once your two layers of phyllo dough are buttered up you can now coat up your chicken with the delicious blend of ingredients that we mixed in the beginning.

You can transfer the chicken to the corner of the phyllo dough and coat the other side of the chicken with more of the mixture.

You will then begin to wrap the chicken in the phyllo dough as if it is a package. Try and seal all ends so the chicken is not exposed and the mixture will not sneak out.

You will do the same for each chicken breast. Once you have wrapped them all, they look a little like large egg rolls.

Now you can top each roll with some more melted butter and sprinkle with what us Italians love best, Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Now you can do one of two things. You can cover your baking sheet and place in the fridge until you are ready to bake or just bake away. I placed mine in the fridge until later in the evening.

In my last post I mentioned how I like to at least bake my chicken for 40 minutes to be safe. I took the chance on the last recipe by cooking for only 30 minutes.

Chicken Breasts in Phyllo only says you have to bake for 20-25 minutes. Ahhh! No way!

I just put raw chicken breasts into this Phyllo dough and 20-25 minutes is enough?

Yes! I removed my pan with 3 minutes left.

I cut it in half and sure enough it was cooked all the way through.

You will actually hear the sizzling of the butter on the bottom of the pan while in your oven. Keep an eye out just because everyones oven is different. You can prepare this dish and store in the fridge for the next day, just to save some time. Or if you prepare early in the day like I did and bake at night, it all works out!

Hope you enjoy

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

"A Stir in The Mist" is out and ready to be purchased.

Now as I blog about the recipes you can follow a long once you have your hands on your very own cookbook.

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole is the recipe I will be experimenting today. There are very few ingredients for this recipe which makes it quick and easy and affordable, especially with all your holiday shopping.

To begin you will boil your chicken breasts the same way I did for the King Ranch Chicken in one of my previous blogs. I seasoned my chicken a little before boiling and just a little after, right before mixing all the remaining ingredients.

Once the chicken is boiled you can remove it from the water and you can now start to shred apart the chicken. I did it a little different, due to the fact of me being excited to taste this recipe.

 I rushed it and wanted to shred the chicken immediately after boiling so therefore I held each piece of chicken with a pair of tongs otherwise you will burn your fingers... OUCH.. I shredded the chicken apart with a fork. Or you can even use a sharp knife and chop the chicken up really small. Once you have your shredded boiled chicken you can mix it into your other ingredients.

This mixture will be your bottom layer. Once that is mixed all together and layed out in your casserole, or baking dish you can now add the crunchiness your family will love. Ritz Crackers, who would have ever thought of cooking with them. Guess I am still new in the cooking world.

I chose the Whole Wheat Ritz Crackers, just to make this recipe I guess a little healthier?

You will crush the crackers up in your hands and set a side. At this time in one large bowl you can add together the crackers, poppy seeds and melted butter.

My first thought on this recipe was that I do not like poppy seed bagels so I will probably not enjoy a chicken dish with poppy seeds baked in it. Well I was wrong. Once everything is combined I think the Ritz Crackers have more of an over powering taste than anything.

This cracker mixture now can be added to top the bottom layer off.

You will now bake this dish. I normally bake chicken for at least 40 minutes just to be safe. This recipe only requires 30 minutes. So I chanced it and it was juicy and at the same time the cracker mixture on top was nice and crunchy!

We hope you purchase "A Stir in The Mist" Taste and Traditions of Niagara Falls!!

You will love every recipe in this cookbook. You will also love the great artwork and the side bars that add a little more to each recipe. We have gotten amazing reviews so far and we hope you continue on spreading the word about this wonderful cookbook.