Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Bacon/Cheese Chicken Roll-Ups

This is what we usually have for dinner on Christmas Eve. The family loves it. I usually make double the amount b/c they love it cold or warmed up for lunches or for a leftovers night. I don't eat chicken so I make mine out of pork or veal. The recipe calls for "cutlets", thin style. I use a regular chicken breast or pork chop that I've pounded thin with a meat mallet between two pieces of plastic wrap to keep meat parts from flying all over. I think what I'm going to do this year is to pound the meat out a week or two ahead of time, then freeze flat between pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap then put in a ziplock bag. When I defrost for Christmas Eve, the main time element to the dish will have already been done. Big thing to remember in doing this dish is to not cross contaminate all of the ingredients while you are assembling since you will have chicken or pork fingers, so I pull out piles of the ingredients with clean hands and work from the piles. If I need more, then I go back with clean hands to the package of bacon, or stick of butter or package/tub of cream cheese.

Bacon/Cheese Chicken Roll-Ups
from Cooks.com

Boneless chicken breast (cutlets, thin style)
Cream cheese with chives (I use regular cream cheese and add chopped fresh chives if I can find them, if not dried, on top of the cream cheese)
Butter
Bacon

Lay out cutlets on working surface. Place in center of each cutlet approximately 2 tablespoons cream cheese and 1/2 talbspoon butter (in meatball shape). I also salt and pepper the cutlet before adding the cream cheese. I add chopped chives at this point b/c I hardly ever buy the chive cream cheese. Roll up cutlet around cheese and butter. Wrap 1 slice bacon around each roll (I might use 1 1/2 slices, try to cover all the chicken roll). Place, seam side down, in shallow pan. Bake in 400 degree oven approximately 40 minutes or until chicken is tender and juices run clear. Bacon should be golden. I sometimes turn the broiler on at this point to crisp up the bacon a little. This dish can be prepared ahead of time and baked just before serving.

You can serve with bread dressing, or a rice pilaf or plain rice, wild rice dish, or scalloped or cheesy potatoes, or buttered herbed noodles and a vegetable.

No comments:

Post a Comment