I've had a craving for a decent chicken Kiev after having a rubbish one in Estonia. So overfried in butter I couldn't taste anything else that I decided to go about making my own. But the main thing that always puts me off is how to get the garlic and herbs and butter into the middle of the chicken.I'll be honest. I still haven't worked that out. That's why these are cheaty. What you'll get is a moist yummy garlic and herby-filled chicken breast with crispy breadcrumbs. I might not have worked out the important bit, but let's face it. Anything with garlic and butter is going to taste good. Even if it's not entirely authentic.
You'll need:
- Two chicken breasts
- Three garlic cloves
- Way too much butter. I used a third of a pack. I'm not sorry in the slightest
- Handful chopped parsley
- 150g breadcrumbs
- Tarragon
- Salt and pepper
- If you're using ready-made breadcrumbs, your job is much easier. I didn't. I decided that tearing bread rolls into teensy pieces was a good idea (it wasn't, don't do that, takes ages). Mix with tarragon and salt and pepper.
- Chop your parsley and garlic and mix with the butter.
- Slit your chicken breasts at the side, but not right to the end. Just deep enough so there's a pocket for garlicky goodness. Stuff your chicken with the garlic herby butter.
- Oil the top of your chicken breast and drench in breadcrumbs. There's no point doing the bottom - the butter will leak out and make the crumbs soggy.
- Fry for a few minutes on the breadcrumbed side, just to make the crumbs super crispy.
- Wrap in foil and pop in an oven (preheated to 180 degrees) for 25-30 minutes. When they're done you'll have super tasty chicken. All the butter will make the chicken moist, and all the good stuff will still be in the middle.
- Serve with new potatoes and salad.
Flickr image from felipe_gabaldon's photostream.
This is SO great - kievs are my favourite dirty food and was saying only last night how much I wanted to make it at home. Huzzah!
ReplyDeleteThey're really tasty. But with that much butter goodness it was kinda hard for them now to be. You can kid yourself they're kinda healthy too, as they're not deepfried.
ReplyDeleteNo you can't.
Aw man, this sounds amazing. Also, for once, I actually have those ingredients. A well balanced meal of carbs, protein and veg. Win!
ReplyDeleteAhhh sounds great.
ReplyDeleteAs for getting the filling perfectly in te middle - use a syringe?? I know it sounds extreme, but if you're going to be finickity it could be the solution..
I'm sure I read a recipe for chicken kiev recently (it may have been Nigella, but I'm not sure) that recommended wrapping the chicken kievs in prosciutto before coating them in the breadcrumbs to help seal in the butter. Even more yum!
ReplyDeleteI considered doing that, but Alex S doesn't eat pork. I'm not sure how well it would work though. I think the butter would just soak through.
ReplyDeleteThere must be a way! (That was said in my best superhero voice).
I'm pretty sure I watched a cooking show where they made kievs by beating the chicken breasts very thin, then wrapping them around balls of butter... then crumbing the outside. I think if you wrapped them then chilled for a while the chicken would manage to stay together and keep in the awesome filling.
ReplyDeletefreezing your butter mixture until it's hard makes it much easier to slip a pat into the chicken. I've found that a good covering in milk/flour/egg/breadcrumbs tends to help glue it shut - best results are to chill the kievs in the fridge for an hour, then repeat the egg/breadcrumbs stage to really seal in the butter and make it super crispy. Shallow fry turning only occasionally and make sure you dry them on kitchen towel to get rid of any excess oil.
ReplyDelete