Chicken Kiev (1)

Chicken Kiev was a staple in my early days as a doctoral student. The local supermarkets often had specials (a couple of packs of 2 for €5) and a Chicken Kiev or two made for a tasty dinner. But I stopped buying them after a couple of years when I decided to eat less processed food.

Chicken kievs with sautéed herby mushrooms and garden peas

Ingredients

2-3 chicken fillets
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp butter, unmelt, small cubed
1 free range egg, whisked
1 C ground almond
1¼ tbsp garlic powder
⅛ tsp Himalayan rose pink herb salt, to taste

closed cap mushrooms, sliced
coconut oil
butter
parsley, to taste
tarragon, to taste
cayenne pepper, to taste

Method for the Chicken Kiev

1. Preheat oven to 220°C.
2. In a bowl, whisk the egg. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the almond flour, garlic powder, and herb salt. Set aside.
4. Cut a slit in each chicken breast and make a hole in the chicken breast with a small knife. If required, cut out a bit of the meat to make the hole but don’t cut through whole fillet.
5. Stuff each fillet with butter and garlic.
   
6. Pinch the slit closed and dip each fillet into the egg wash and then into the almond flour mixture.
   
   
7. Place on a baking tray and bake for 30-35 minutes.
   

I was too cautious when cutting the slit for the stuffing and didn't go deep enough, so the garlic pretty much sat near the top of the fillets. I also didn't add enough butter. But still, the flavour was amazing! The grain-free breading was a success as well. This is a dish I will be making again, with a bit more butter, or perhaps even ghee, and I may even make the effort of butterflying the fillets, stuff them, and then roll them up before breading and baking.