27 December 2011

Christmas Dinner Done Differently

Chicken Stuffed with Figs and Leeks

Christmas dinner was a little different this year. Instead of a turkey or ham, my mom wanted to try stuffed chicken breasts. They're fancy with the stuffed filling, and the only real work to prepare them consists of butterflying and pounding split chicken breasts, rolling the chicken up, and securing the rolls with cooking twine.

Chicken Stuffed with Figs and Leeks
Chicken Stuffed with Figs and Leeks

We started off by preparing a fig and leek filling. Oh Nuts had sent me some figs, so I figured this was a perfect opportunity to finally use them. They were soft, especially for being dried figs, and reconstituted nicely in heated orange juice. Finely chopped leeks, a bit of salt, and white wine were mixed in.

Chicken Stuffed with Figs and Leeks

The key to keep the chicken from falling apart is to secure the roll with cooking twine. I've used toothpicks before, but it's not as good. Mom had the idea to drape the excess skin on top to keep the chicken breasts moist and develop a crispy crust.

Chicken Stuffed with Figs and Leeks

For flavoring, I coarsely ground dried rosemary with kosher salt, red clay sea salt, and pepper. I sprinkled the mixture underneath the skin (as well as rubbing the chicken with butter) and on top. The last chicken roll was placed in a parchment pouch. I've never cooked a chicken like this before, but it came out incredibly moist.

Chicken Stuffed with Figs and Leeks

Once the chicken is cooked, we let it rest, covered, so that the juices won't ooze out when sliced.

Christmas Dinner

The stuffed chicken tasted great and the figgy-leek filling was very tasty. It made for a great change of pace to turkey and didn't require much prep time or post feast clean up.

Along with the chicken, we had rice pilaf cooked in a pressure cooker (post to come), roasted Yukon gold potatoes, homemade bread rolls, and homemade cranberry sauce.

What did you guys have for Christmas dinner?
SHARE:

5 comments

  1. I love the idea of doing something requiring less clean up for a holiday dinner, and I loved stuffed chicken breasts. I think the entire meal sounds wonderful. We don't do any special Christmas dinner here - more of brunch/breakfast people so we did a waffle breakfast with strawberries, homemade whipped cream and an assortment of breakfast meats. Yummy!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice to read your blog on this website. different experience to read this blog. i get some awesome information throw this article.online dating sites

    ReplyDelete
  3. It’s my pleasure to read this blog post Christmas Dinner Done Differently . Your blog post is very useful. I have been looking for this knowledge for many days. I think highly of you efforts. I will come here again to check new keep posts. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just desire to say your article is as amazing.
    The clearness in your post is just nice and i could assume you’re an expert on this subject. Well with your permission let me to grab your RSS feed to keep updated with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please carry on the rewarding work.

    Kichink.com
    Htcdev.com
    Tweakpc.de
    Moviesarena.com

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment. Your thoughts are appreciated! ^,^

~Christina

Blogger Template Created by pipdig