Thursday 31 May 2007

Little Foodies Russia, Cabin Fever & Chicken Kiev

It's official the world and it's weather is going bonkers and our household is well and truly suffering from Cabin Fever. It's not the best half term holiday. We are lurching from one mood to another without rhyme or reason. Poor H returns from work every day wondering what emotional garbage he's going to walk in to. If this weather doesn't break we're putting on wet weather gear and going for a hike across the fields. I need some fresh air. It's the end of May and we've had the heating on every day this week.... Moan, moan, moan. Do stop by for a moan....

That was this morning and at about 2pm the sun came out. It's been a brilliant afternoon, we even ventured to the park. We're still 'in' Russia and I made up this Chicken Kiev recipe based on various ones that I've seen over the years. Not sure it's authentic but it was tasty.

Chicken Kiev (Garlic butter stuffed chicken) Serves 4
4 chicken breasts with skin and part of the wing bone left on.
1 large handful of parsley (we used the curly variety)
Half a pack of butter, cold from fridge, chopped into pieces
8 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
Sprinkle of salt. if unsalted using butter
Half a pack of crackers (we didn't have any bread to make real breadcrumbs)

In a food processor add the crackers and blitz until they resemble fine breadcrumbs. Do this first and you can then make the garlic butter in the same pot without having to wash it out first. If you do it the other way round you'll need to wash it first.

Then make the garlic butter by adding the butter, crushed garlic and parsley (and salt if using unsalted butter) to the processor and blitz until the herbs are finely chopped and it's all come together into a smooth butter. Put this in the fridge while you prepare the chicken.

First take off the loose bit of chicken (can't remember what it's called but it's the perfect size and shape for goujons, which is what we did with them).
Insert a hole into the chicken breasts from the thin end, where the bone is still attached... This is difficult to explain, if you don't understand what I mean then much better to ask your butcher to do it for you.
Push the garlic butter into the hole, the butter starts sticking to your hands, you just have to keep at it. Next time I think I'd freeze the butter first.
When you've pushed plenty in you need to fold the chicken over... and secure it by wrapping string around it. I couldn't find any string so used a few cocktail sticks and hoped for the best.
I then poured the crackercrumbs into a large bowl and then rolled the chicken around in it until they were liberally coated.
With the smaller pieces of chicken I rubbed them all over with the garlic butter then rolled in the crackercrumbs. Placed them all in an ovenproof dish then pop in the oven for 50 minutes on 180C (will put other conversions on asap).

I actually used a whole pack of butter so there was far too much. I used it all up by boiling some potatoes and throwing the rest of the garlic butter over it then roasting in a really hot oven for 30 minutes. Delicious but the sort of fodder that could possibly bring on cardiac arrest.

Edit. Asha left a comment re: M&S kievs she used to get in the UK. My mum used to get those and I loved them. If I'm honest I think I'd buy my kievs ready made. If I was going homemade I'd just make chicken goujons using the crackercrumbs and serve with melted garlic and parsley butter on the side... Much easier and quicker to prepare.

11 comments:

FH said...

Ooh!! I LOVE LOVE Chicken Kiev.When we were in UK,I would buy them from M & S food section.I have never seen those here,I bet they don't taste as good even if I do.
Thanks for the recipe,I will try.Hope weather gets better there.It's very very hot here,it rained a little yesterday,that's about it.

Chris said...

I have never had Chicken Kiev. This looks wonderful!

Anonymous said...

Looks delicious and I am betting it was. I have always used boneless chicken breasts for mine when I make it and they have worked out very well also. I think those little pieces are called the chicken tenders.... When I make gougons with them I always remove that white tendon that you can see sticking out, they are infinitely more tender without that! Loved the idea of using the leftover garlic butter to roast the potatoes in. All, in all it sounds a really delicious meal!

Cottage Smallholder said...

I love Chicken Kiev too. I suspect it's the sort of thing that would be great to make in bulk and freeze for later.

Freya said...

I always thought those little bits of chicken were called the fillets...
I love chicken kiev, naff or not. I love cutting into it and the garlic butter oozing everywhere! Hope the weather is a bit brighter for you too today, it is sunny here!

Kelly-Jane said...

Our rain cleared up yesterday, and today has been really sunny, hope you are getting the same.

Your kievs look great, mmm. I've not made kievs at home, but I think I'll give them a go one of these days! In the meantime I think I'll give M&S a go.

Amanda at Little Foodies said...

Asha, Thank you and my mum used to buy the M&S ones. I loved it with mashed potato.

Chris, Thank you. You should try it, with mashed potato - yummy!

Marie, It was, we had leftovers today too.

Cottage Smallholder, It probably would be but I'm all for doing things the quickest, easiest way for tasty/similar results. I don't think I'm a purist... too lazy.

Freya & Paul, Mmmm, I guess the chicken goujons alone wouldn't give that oozing butter. The weather has been fantastic today - yipppeee!

Kelly-Jane, Thank you. Give them a go. M&S or homemade. I've given myself a taste for them now (I hadn't had them for years). Craving it with mashed potato. Off to M&S myself maybe.

Amanda

Maggie said...

I'm sure they taste much better than the M&S ones. Just cooking them in the oven, instead of deepfrying them makes them a hit with me!

Patricia Scarpin said...

Amanda, what a delicious way to make chicken - I'm off to lunch now and I wish I could have this wonderful dish!

Amanda at Little Foodies said...

Hi Margaret, Thank you. Yes I hadn't realised that you were supposed to deep fry them traditionally. Glad I didn't pay that much attention to the recipes I saw.

Hi Patricia, We had some sliced cold with salad the next day - now that was really tasty.

Thank you
Amanda

Chef Jeena said...

What a lovely chicken kiev! Now that is better than any kiev I have ever seen in a freezer section of a shop. Great recipe. :)

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