Once upon a time, in the largest city in a lovely kingdom in the middle of the country, there lived a foodie. She loved to cook, and cook she did. In this giant city, the foodie had access to Whole Foods stores, ethnic markets, year round greenhouses, and the largest grocery in all of the surrounding kingdoms. But access to gourmet ingredients does not a happy family make and so the foodie packed up her children and all of her possessions and moved to a much smaller city in a much smaller kingdom, still in the middle of the country. And she dreamed of farm fresh eggs, and bushels of fresh produce, home-made cheeses, and fruit straight from the tree. But she soon found that eggs come from chickens (and chickens poop everywhere) and tomatoes don't grow in the snow...to have home-made cheese, you must have a cow (or a goat, or a sheep, or a camel- but camels spit) ...and fruit stops falling in October.
Yes, friends...I am the foodie...and I have indeed packed up my children and my possessions and moved to a very small town (and I'm still considering chickens -- even though they poop everywhere.) I'm excited about the potential that my little garden plot holds for the spring, and am looking forward to getting my hands on the ingredients for home-made cheeses, but I'm quickly learning that living in a small town means new culinary challenges as well. Gourmet ingredients are an hour and a half away, and access to fresh vegetables and fruits in the winter is difficult. I can't make the trip often enough to the city to keep them on hand. So, I find myself cooking with staples more often, and shelf stable foods, more sodium and preservatives and less whole, natural, and healthy foods. But I'm not one to turn down a challenge...especially in the kitchen, and when I went into the small market in town today I knew I was tired of the meat and potato routine. I searched the shelves up and down for something to pair with the goat cheese I've been hoarding for awhile and decided on red peppers, rolled into butterflied chicken breasts and breadcrumbs and served with fettuccine...in a roasted red pepper cream sauce (to keep the theme going.) I don't have a fancy name for it, but it was excellent. The recipe follows.
CHICKEN ROLL-UPS
1 lb. chicken breast
1 cup goat cheese
1 jar of roasted red peppers in olive oil and garlic
2 cups of bread crumbs
salt, pepper, paprika, (ahem..Mrs. Dash)
parmesean cheese
2 tbsp milk (or cream or whatever)
2 eggs
1. THAW CHICKEN (damn it! why do I always forget to plan ahead?) So, go ahead...thaw the chicken... (and while the chicken thaws...)
2. Whip up the egg mixture for breading...I use 2 eggs, a couple tablespoons of milk, paprika, and lots of pepper. This makes more than you probably need, but it sucks to have to make more of this when your hands are all goopy from dredging. Then make the breading mix...breadcrumbs (maybe a couple cups?) lots of pepper -- red pepper (just a dash), and black pepper..and ok, I admit it. I put Mrs. Dash in my breading mix, along with some grated Parmesan cheese (please don't use that powder stuff - or at least don't use the powder stuff and say that It's any recipe of mine.)
3. Toss 1 cup of goat cheese into a mixer with a tablespoon or two of cream, or milk...or whatever you have on hand to make it spreadable. I do this almost every time I work with goat cheese.
4. THEN...because your chicken has finally thawed, and your family is screaming hungry...Pound the chicken. Into flat little smooshed up chicken plates. (Also. make sure you have a meat mallet. I didn't. I thought about pounding them with a chunky shoe heel covered in plastic wrap, but I decided I like my shoes too much, and went with a rolling pin instead. Its almost a toss up between shoes and rolling pin.)
5. Spread a few tablespoons of the goat cheese spread onto one side of the chicken and top with 1-2 red pepper slices. Roll the chicken and secure with a toothpick. (If you have them, which of course, I did not...so I'm renaming the recipe Chicken and Roasted Red Pepper Piles.) Dredge the chicken roll in the egg mixture, followed by the bread mixture. Coat thoroughly. Place in an ungreased, glass 2 qt casserole dish. Cook at 375 for 45 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.
ROASTED RED PEPPER CREAM SAUCE
1 jar of roasted red peppers plus the leftovers of the jar for the chicken
1 clove of garlic (or some more if you're me)
2 cups of half and half
4 Tbsp butter (NOT MARGARINE...that's crap!)
1 cup grated Romano cheese
CRAZY GOOD WHITE WINE
Ok, We're like T-30 minutes for dinner. Puree the peppers in a blender. STOP. Realize you haven't even started drinking. Open CRAZY GOOD WHITE WINE (as noted in ingredients list), lament over the fact that you should really get better glasses for white. Saute the chopped garlic in the oil from the pepper jar (no reason to waste the yummy.) Start boiling water for the fettucini. Salt your water people, didn't your mother teach you these things? Stick your finger (YOUR CLEAN FINGER! WASH YOUR HANDS- YOU'VE BEEN TOUCHING RAW CHICKEN, GROSS!) in the pepper puree in the blender and exclaim to whatever higher power you believe in that you rock (such as: Oh, my God! I'm an amazing cook!) If you have a complicated religion, you may want to start this a little early, as to not let dinner fall behind. Grate the cheese. Drink some more wine.(This is a great time to chop a salad if you are making one. You might even toss a couple Tbsp of the Romano cheese on the salad. I cook by the principle of "What the hell, that sounds good.")
When the water reaches a boil, add the fettuccine. Cook to Al dente. Bring the roasted red pepper puree to a boil in a saucepan. Stir in the half and half and cheese, stirring continually until the cheese melts. Add the butter, stirring constantly. Serve to your amazed and wowed family with the chicken cutlets! Enjoy!
