Roll it, Tuck it, Wrap it, Fold it

Here are two chicken dishes that are encased in their own breaded blankets. Nicely tucked in. Very compact and oh so yummy. No need to serve rolls because the main course is served inside a roll!


Herbed Chicken in Pastry

Ingredients:

1/2 of a 17.3 ounce package of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet), thawed
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
Ground black pepper (optional)
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (about 1 pound)
2 tablespoons butter
1 container (4 ounces) garlic and herb spreadable cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

Heat the oven to 400°F . Beat the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork or whisk.

Season the chicken with the black pepper, if desired. Heat the butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook for 10 minutes or until it's well browned on both sides. Remove the chicken to a plate. Cover the plate and refrigerate for 15 minutes or up to 24 hours.

Unfold the pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Roll the pastry sheet into a 14 inch square. Cut into 4 (7 inch) squares.

Spread about 2 tablespoons cheese spread in the center of each pastry square. Top each with 1 tablespoon parsley and 1 chicken breast. Brush the edges of the pastry squares with the egg mixture. Fold the corners of the pastry squares to the center over the chicken and press to seal. Place the filled pastries seam-side down onto a baking sheet. Brush the pastries with the egg mixture.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Let the pastries cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes.

Source: www.puffpastry.com (obviously a Pepperidge Farm recipe).

Notes: As usual, I forgot the parsley. It doesn't make much of a difference. Parsley isn't a super strong tasting herb. So, it was just fine without it.


Chicken Crescents

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups diced chicken
Chives, to taste
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Butter
1/3 cup Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoning
Saved broth from the poached chicken (or 1 can canned chicken broth)
1 (3 oz) pkg. cream cheese
1/3 cup canned mushrooms (stems and pieces)
1/4 cup pecans, chopped (optional)
Pillsbury Crescent Rolls--1 tube
1 can cream of chicken soup

Directions:

Chicken breasts or whole chicken can be used. If whole chicken is used, you will get 2 1/2 to 3 times the required amount of chicken.

Boil chicken in a saucepan filled with water until very tender--save broth.

Strip chicken from bones, and dice or pull into pieces. Mix chicken with cream cheese, chives, salt, pepper, and mushrooms.

Put 1 tablespoon of chicken mix on each roll, pinch corners. Dip in milk and butter, then roll in Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoning and then pecans.

Place on cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until crescents are nicely browned.

Make gravy from chicken broth and cream of chicken soup. Serve over crescents or on the side.

Source: This is one of Carol Todd's recipes from one of our old ward cookbooks.

Notes: I doubled this recipe. It made a ton of chicken filling--more than I could successfully fit into the Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. So, rather than using 1 crescent apiece, I kept 2 crescents together for each chicken packet (so that it formed a square rather than a triangle) and folded the dough over the chicken filling.

Even so, I still had a ton of filling left over. I decided to mix the remainder of the filling into the gravy so that I had chicken, mushrooms, and chives inside the crescents and out.

I also excluded the pecans since my son is allergic to tree nuts (Why oh why? I miss nuts soooo much!).

But even without the nuts, this was a fantastic recipe. That Carol Todd knows how to cook!

Oh, and as for the Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoning, I wasn't exactly sure what that meant. So, I used Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned Stuffing and I crushed it into a bread crumb texture and rolled the crescent packets in that.