One of the reasons I started this blog was to share the imperfections involved in cooking. I LOVE food blogs and websites but in my experience I hadn’t found many that shared the side of cooking that includes experimentation and the sometimes less than successful results. I found myself intimidated by cooking early on because I erroneously thought I had to get it right every time. I know now that this is not the case and some of my best invented dishes have come from previous recipe “mistakes”.
So I decided to start a feature called Recipe Experiments to give you the reader insight into trying a new recipe or creating a new recipe of your own. My experiments come either from recipes I stumble upon or are sent to me and my recipe ideas are often combinations of a few different recipes and/or dining experiences.
The Idea:
Last night’s experiment was what I originally called Inside Out Chicken Parmesan. I have recently developed a mini-recipe obsession with stuffing chicken courtesy of Cooking Light and I have been looking for ways to convert some higher fat dishes into lower-fat and interesting alternatives. I had had success with rolling chicken up previously so I thought that was a good place to start withcreating this dish. I thought that tomatoes and cheese inside the chicken and then the chicken lightly breaded, browned and then baked in the oven with a little more cheese and sauce on top would make for a filling dish.
The Execution:
I had two chicken breasts on hand…one very large and 1 smaller. The very large one I cut into two cutlets and the smaller I trimmed down to match the others. I pounded the meat flat and placedthe cutlets in a dish of egg substitute. In a separate dish I added Italian bread crumbs.
Setting to work on the filling, it occurred to me that the tomatoes and cheese on their own may not be substantial enough to fill the chicken. I decided to add spinach since I had some frozen on hand. I heated a little olive oil over medium in an oven proof skillet. I sweated a finely minced garlic clove and then added 1 cup of thawed spinach and ½ can of diced tomatoes (drained). After a few minutes, when I could smell the garlic, I swept the tomato mixture into a bowl and set the pan aside. I added 1 cup of 2% milk shredded mozzarella into the bowl and mixed well.
I removed the dunked cutlets and spooned the tomato mixture onto each one and carefully rolledthe filling into the chicken. This where I discovered my first flaw: I didn’t drain the spinach or tomatoes enough and it was a little too liquidy. I continued on with a lessons learned from my previous stuffed chicken…instead of toothpicks I used large wooden skewers that had been cut in half. The last time the tooth picks got lost inside the cooked chicken. This time, one skewer held the chicken in place and there was no missing it! I had filling left over so I thought it would be nice to top the chicken with it so the liquidity would no longer be an issue. But first, I needed to finish prepping the chicken.
The rolled cutlets were dredged in Italian breadcrumbs. To the set aside pan I added about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and heated to medium high heat. I pre-heated the oven to 425 degrees and then browned the chicken on all sides. Once browning was done, I added the leftover filling on top of the three chicken roll-ups and put in the oven for 20 minutes.
The Result:
Flavor wise the dish was pretty solid. The garlic flavor was good but the tomatoes needed somemore seasoning. I think using the pre-seasoned tomatoes would be a quick fix. The liquidity of the filling wasn’t an issue during the cooking process but the mozzarella by itself as a bonding agent was a little underwhelming. I think a little skim ricotta may solve that problem. I also thought about just using string cheese and tomato sauce for inside to stick the concept of a true inside out chicken parm.
Hubby liked the dish but didn’t give it the gold star. He also thought the tomatoes needed more flavor and he would have preferred pasta sauce instead of diced tomatoes all together. He thought topping the chicken with the leftover filling was a good idea so that’s a keeper. He loves spinach so for him that was a nice bonus.
It also occurred to me after the fact that my take on chicken Parmesan didn’t contain Parmesancheese. Will definitely need to work that into the recipe next time either in the filling or with the breadcrumbs or both!
In the end, we had a tasty meal and I have some more ideas the next time out!
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