Oven-Fried Brined Chicken Breast Rolled with Asparagus, Peppers and Four-Herb Pesto

To download a copy of this recipe for Oven-Fried Brined Chicken Breast Rolled with Asparagus, Peppers and Four-Herb Pesto, click HERE!

At a recent luncheon, one of the items served was a thin chicken breast rolled around asparagus and cut into pieces about 1” thick. Three or four made a serving. It was a good combination, and ample inspiration for today’s recipe: Oven-Fried Brined Chicken Breast Rolled with Asparagus, Peppers and Four-Herb Pesto. There are several ways in which this version takes the chicken breast in a somewhat different direction: the chicken breast is brined for added moisture and flavor; pesto is added to the inside of the roll, and red pepper is added to the asparagus; and the chicken breast is oven-fried instead of just baked.


Served on top of noodles with lemon and fresh chopped parsley (as in the photo above), or with rice, this is a great, fresh meal!


Some Cook’s Notes before we begin:

• Use any pesto you like: purchased, your favorite recipe, or the four-herb pesto described below.

• If you choose to make fresh pesto, as with so many cold-mix items, the flavor improves if you let it for a while or, even better, overnight.

• The pesto portion of this recipe makes about 1-1/2 cups of pesto, which is far more than you’ll need to make the chicken. Put the remainder in a couple of sealed containers and refrigerate or freeze. Pesto is good to have around; you’ll think of something to do with it.

• The chicken breast in this recipe is cut in half instead of into several 1” thick slices. There’s a reason for this: the breading (which the original I ate at the luncheon didn’t have) can start to fall off if the chicken is cut into smaller pieces. The breading itself is done with crushed cornflakes. When oven-frying, I've tried bread crumbs, panko, and various combinations of both, but I've just found that cornflakes give the best flavor and texture for the coating.

• The chicken breasts are brined for about an hour. While brining a whole chicken can take several hours, doing smaller amounts of individual parts takes a good bit less time.

This recipe makes six servings.



First we’ll make the pesto. (If you’re using your own pesto recipe, or are using purchased pesto, just skip this part.)

Rough chop 2 cups packed fresh basil; ½ cup fresh parsley; ½ cup fresh oregano; ¼ cup fresh mint; and 2 cloves garlic. Combine with /3 cup pine nuts, and the juice of ½ lemon in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped.

While still pulsing the processor, drizzle in up to 1/3 cup of olive oil till the mixture is smooth and has the desired texture.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl, and stir in 1 cup of finely shredded parmesan, ½ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp fresh ground pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To brine the chicken:

Dissolve 3 Tbsp kosher salt; 2 Tbsp granulated sugar; and 2 Tbsp brown sugar in 1 cup of boiling water.

Add the boiled solution to 3-1/2 cups of cold water. Stir to combine, and place in the refrigerator to chill completely.

Place 1-1/2 pounds of boneless chicken breast (3 breasts at about ½ pound each) in the brine and refrigerate for 60 to 90 minutes. While the chicken is brining, continue the preparations as described below.

To prepare the vegetables:

Place 9 to 12 toothpicks in a cup of water to begin soaking.

Trim the bottoms on 1 pound of asparagus, and slice two red bell peppers into strips about the same width as the asparagus.

Prepare an ice bath and begin boiling a pot of water. When the water is boiling, put in the asparagus and, after two minutes, put in the red pepper strips. Remove both after another minute. (In other words, you’re blanching the asparagus for three minutes and the pepper strips for one minute.)

Place both in the ice bath (“blanch and shock”) to stop the cooking while retaining color and texture. Drain and set aside.

To prepare the breading station:

Place 1 cup of all-purpose flour in a wide dish.

Combine 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour; ½ tsp salt; ¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper; ¾ cup dry white wine (Chardonnay or similar); and 1 egg-substitute egg and mix till well-combined into a smooth batter. Place in a wide dish to the right of the flour.

Place 2 cups of crushed corn flakes in a wide dish to the right of the batter.

To prepare the chicken breast:

Butterfly one of the chicken breast and spread it out open. Spread some pesto over the chicken. (Don’t use too much; pesto has strong flavor, and a little goes a long way!) Lay some of the asparagus and pepper strips at one end of the chicken breast. (There should be enough asparagus and peppers left over to serve as a side dish as described below.)

Roll the chicken breast around the asparagus and peppers. Secure the roll with three or four of the soaked toothpicks.

To bread the rolled chicken breast:

Dredge the chicken in the flour to coat, shaking off the excess.

Roll the chicken in the batter to coat, shaking off the excess. Then roll the chicken in the corn flakes to coat, shaking off the excess.

Place the breaded chicken on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat the breading steps for the remaining chicken breasts. When all three breasts are breaded and on the baking sheet, place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

While the chicken breasts are in the refrigerator, begin preheating the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the remaining asparagus and peppers into 1” pieces.

To bake the chicken:

Spray the breaded chicken with cooking spray and place the baking sheet in the oven. Bake till the breasts are cooked through, about 30 minutes, turning the baking sheet half-way. When turning the tray, place a smaller try with the chopped asparagus and peppers into the oven to finish cooking.

When the chicken has finished baking, let rest on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then cut each in half. (Each chicken breast should provide two servings.) Serve on top of noodles or rice, surrounded by the mixed chopped asparagus and peppers. REMEMBER TO REMOVE THE TOOTHPICKS BEFORE SERVING.

 To download a copy of this recipe for Oven-Fried Brined Chicken Breast Rolled with Asparagus, Peppers and Four-Herb Pesto, click HERE!

Hope you enjoy this fresh, delicious meal! And please be sure to visit again next week for another home-cooked, kitchen tested recipe. Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)

Hakuna Frittata

If you’re in the mood for a great-tasting, light meal in the steak-and-eggs spirit, the Hakuna Frittata – an asparagus and roasted red pepper frittata with just the right touch of bacon, and a ground lamb (no lion or, worse, meerkat) and tomato topping - may be just what you’re looking for. Plus the name is really cool to say. (If the name, or the reference to lions and meerkats, has you mystified, people who had small children in the mid-90’s and can explain it are easy to find; it’s a small world after all.)

The real, and decidedly unglamorous, origins of the Hakuna Frittata arise from the fact that I like eggs, wanted to do something different with a frittata, and had a package of ground lamb in the freezer that I’d gotten with no particular recipe in mind but that I thought would make a nice ingredient in, well, something.

The frittata, of course, is Italy’s version of an omelet, with the vegetables incorporated into the eggs rather than being placed on them. It’s usually cooked in a pan and is more-or-less pie-shaped. In this recipe, I’ve taken a different approach and baked the frittata in a loaf pan in a larger pan of water for more even cooking (a kind of improvised bain-marie), a method presented in Michel Richard’s “Cooking with a French Accent” that I had the opportunity to learn in a class with Chef Renee at New York’s Institute of Culinary Education. (It’s a fantastic place for both full time and recreational classes if you’re in the New York area.)

A special note for new cooks: this recipe also uses a number of techniques – whipping and folding egg whites, blanch and shock, preparing roasted red peppers, the aforementioned bain-marie - that will be familiar to people who’ve cooked before, and that will be great additions to the skill set of anyone new to cooking. (Where appropriate, I’ve added some Cook’s Notes in the recipe to clarify certain points for anyone new to this.) Note that whipping the egg whites is not normally done when making frittatas and, in fact, isn’t even necessary if you’re using fresh eggs. As readers know by now, I look to reduce fat in recipes where I can, and use egg substitute a lot. It’s good for most things, but doesn’t fluff when cooking quite the way fresh eggs do. For recipes where that's an issue, I’ve found adding beaten egg whites to be the solution. It’s an example of how reduced fat cooking and baking typically require more than just substituting reduced fat ingredients, which can have a negative impact on texture. You need the proper items and techniques in your low-fat tool-box. More on that another day.

Ok, let’s cook! This recipe makes about 4 servings.

Place a large baking dish half-filled with water into the oven, and preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

To prepare the asparagus:

• Bring a pot of salted water large enough for the asparagus to a boil. 
• Make a salted ice bath in preparation for cooking the asparagus. 
• Cut the stems off of ¾ pound of medium-to-thick asparagus. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the tough outer skin from the back end and make the shafts a uniform thickness to cook evenly. Boil until tender but still crisp, about 3 – 4 minutes, then immediately place the asparagus in the ice bath. [Cook’s note: This method of stopping the cooking and preserving the nice green color is called, “blanch and shock.”] When they’ve cooled, remove the asparagus from the ice bath, and place them on a towel to dry.

Roast two red peppers in a skillet, dice, and place in a skillet with about a tablespoon of olive oil. [Cook’s Note: For tips on roasting the red peppers, see last week's recipe for Chicken Pasta Primavera.] Add ½ teaspoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar, and 2 minced cloves of garlic, and cook over medium heat until the vinegar has evaporated. Add salt and pepper to taste, and set aside.

Cook and finely dice one or two slices of turkey bacon, and set aside.

Coat the sides of a 2 pound loaf pan with butter substitute. Line the bottom of the loaf pan with parchment.

In a bowl, beat five egg substitute eggs together with one tablespoon of minced, fresh basil.

In a second bowl, add a pinch of salt to two fresh (not packaged) egg whites and beat until firm peaks form. [Cook’s note: Using fresh egg whites here, and not the packaged egg whites, is very important. I’ve found that packaged egg whites don’t form peaks the way fresh egg whites do.] Fold the beaten eggs into the egg substitute mixture. [Cook’s Note: When folding beaten egg whites into another mixture, there’s no need to make sure they combine completely. Some white streaks or bumps from the beaten egg whites are ok. Attempting to combine everything completely can result in the beaten egg whites losing their fluffiness.]

Place about 1/3 of the asparagus on the bottom of the loaf pan, alternating tips and bottoms, being sure to leave space in between each stalk. Place 1/3 of the cooked peppers on top of the asparagus, then sprinkle with 1/3 of the diced bacon. Repeat with another 1/3 of the asparagus, peppers, and bacon, and then with the remaining asparagus, peppers and bacon. (Leaving space between the asparagus stalks is critical; if there is not enough space between them, the egg mixture will not get in between the asparagus and the finished frittata will fall apart when cut.)

Gently pour the egg mixture over the asparagus and peppers, making sure all of the asparagus are covered. After the loaf pan has been filled, tap it gently to distribute the liquid evenly.

Cover the loaf pan with foil, and place it in the oven in the pan of water to form a bain-marie. Bake until the eggs are firm and a knife or skewer inserted comes out clean (45 – 60 minutes).

While the frittata is baking, make the topping as described below.

In a bowl, combine the one pound of ground lamb, 3 chopped sprigs of fresh oregano, 3 chopped sprigs of fresh rosemary, and 1/3 cup flat Italian parsley.

In a large pan over moderately high heat, and add the lamb mixture, 1 diced medium onion and 2 minced cloves of garlic. Cook until the onions are soft and the lamb is well browned. (If possible, drain some excess fat as you go.) Add a pinch of red pepper flakes and cook for another minute.

Add a 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes with juice to the lamb mixture. Simmer, partially covered and stirring occasionally, for 15- 20 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

When the frittata has finished baking, remove the foil and let it rest for about 15 minutes. (If any water has formed on top of the frittata, dab it up with a paper towel.)

Run a knife around the edge of the loaf pan, and turn the frittata out onto a platter, dabbing of any excess liquid. Slice the frittata into portions; after plating, top each portion with the lamb topping, garnish with parsley, and serve immediately.

And with that, the recipe’s circle of life is completed, and you’re ready to feel the love of a good meal tonight! If you'd like a cookbook-style, notebook-ready copy of this recipe, drop me a line or a comment and it shall be yours!

That's it for now. There'll be a new recipe posted here next Saturday, so please come by! Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)