Saturday, April 25, 2009

Brie Cheese Chicken

I rarely take the time to bake chicken breasts and often either sauting or grilling them. I had a wheel of brie cheese on hand, however, and thought it woudl be lovely to stuff chicken breasts with brie and bake it, what a subtle, yet creamy flavor! I also used some of the great produce that I got for free from Whole Foods outside of the Hill Country Food & Wine festival last weekend which I was so excited about.

Brie Cheese Chicken

4 chicken breasts, sliced horizontally almost all the way through
1 wheel of brie cheese, cut into slices
1/2 cup fig jam
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread a couple tablespoons of fig jam on the brie slices and then place in the slits in the chicken breasts. Place the chicken in a 9x13 greased baking dish and cook, uncovered about 50 minutes to an hour. Enjoy!

Parmesan and Basil Mashed Potatoes

3 pounds potatoes (I used a combination of peeled russets and red potatoes with skins on)
1/3 cup milk, warmed
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
Salt and pepper to taste

Slice potatoes and place in salted boiling water, cooking until tender (about 20 minutes depending on size of the slices); drain. Place potatoes back in warm pot and smash, then add m
ilk and butter and stir. Add in cheese, basil and salt and pepper and combine.

I served this with a side salad of fresh romaine lettuce, sliced carrots (also from whole foods!), crumbled bacon from that morning's breakfast and a light caesar dressing.

The purple potatoes I got from Whole Foods were fun to play with, so we experimented making purple potato chips by just frying them in oil and seasoning with sea salt. So fun!

9 comments:

ivette said...

Im wondering what the reasoning behind the use of fig jam is and what are other substitutes that you recommend? Would you not recommend just using the brie? Would it be to "dull?"

Lindsay said...

I love pairing brie cheese and fig jam together because the sweetness really pairs well with the mildness of the brie. You could of course not include the fig jam, or try any other jam of your choosing- raspberry might be nice.

Jack said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jack said...

Yay for free produce! This meal looks magnificent! Had to delete a misspelling... yikes!

Brittney said...

Ivette - obviously the girl loves fig jam. Have you not been witness to her devouring the Barton Springs sandwich from WFM? That's the reason she gets it!!

ivette said...

Yes.. i do recall the fig jam obsession via the sammich. I personally like brie paired with apricots or cranberries. Maybe i'll sub with one of those.

Lundy said...

Just discovered your blog was searchable. Like a cookbook! This just made my life and I'm making this meal so probably Peters life too. Love it!

Lindsay said...

Haha glad you're finding the search function useful! I try to make useful tags for each post. Also, as a side note, I'd serve extra fig jam for dipping on the side of the chicken. Let me know how it turns out! :)

Anonymous said...

A good story

GK Chesterton: “The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.”

Voila: www.tastingtoeternity.com. This book is a poetic view of 30 of the best loved French cheeses with an additional two odes to cheese. Recipes, wine pairing, three short stories and an educational section complete the book.

From a hectic life in New York City to the peace and glories of the French countryside lead me to be the co-founder of www.fromages.com. Ten years later with the words of Pierre Androuet hammering on my brain:

“Cheese is the soul of the soil. It is the purest and most romantic link between humans and the earth.”

I took pen and paper; many reams later with the midnight oil burning Tasting to Eternity was born and self published.

I believe cheese and wine lovers should be told about this publication.

Enjoy