Cream Cheese & Scallion Stuffed Chicken, and Beige Food

I'll start with my discussion on beige food. It's usually delicious, and not necessarily unhealthy. The end.
I love cooking chicken. Lots of foodies think boneless and skinless chicken breasts are worthless pieces of poultry, but I beg to differ! You can do anything with chicken; the sky's the limit when it comes to seasoning and flavor, type of cuisine, kind of dish, and method of cooking.

Every time I make chicken it's always Erol's "FAVORITE!!" This time he said he takes back all the other times he's ever said that because this is truly number one. I think he really believes it each time he says that, but I know he'll say it next time too.

Doesn't the name of this recipe just make your mouth water! I insist you make this if you like cream cheese, and of course you do because everyone does! Make it for guests and they will be so impressed simply because it's rolled and seems kinda fancy. Let them think you slaved over it, but it is so easy and most importantly when you have company: it can be completely assembled ahead of time and clean up is as easy as tossing a piece of foil in the trash!

The prep, however, will turn your kitchen into a very messy one, but no one has to see that.

I get lots of compliments when I make chicken, and besides the fact that I've had a lot of practice at knowing when it's done, I don't mess around and almost always use a digital cooking thermometer. It is easy to overcook chicken, and I still do sometimes, and no recipe can help that by providing a cooking time because the size and shape of each piece is unique. A digital thermometer is a must and there's no way around it. I have mine set to beep at 165 degrees, the lowest acceptable internal temperature for cooked poultry. I let it get to 168 degrees most of the time before removing the pan from the oven or the stovetop. The very very very worst way to check a piece of meat to see if it's done is to cut into it. If you are on a desert island cooking chicken without a digital thermometer and you absolutely must cut into it, do it only to the piece you will eat yourself and don't let on that it's dry, which is what will happen. (Sorry for getting a little fired up there, I've got the presidential debates on and I guess I'm feeling the tension!)

So back to this recipe - one day last week my shopping list included 1 lb of chicken for another recipe, and my frugal husband scored a 4 lb pack for only $3 more than the cost for only 1 lb. Yesterday I had three huge chicken breasts and not much else by way of other ingredients to make a recipe, so being unable to get to the store, I perused my fridge and found four scallions and a package of cream cheese. It made me think of the flavor of a dip or something, I can't remember exactly how I've had chicken and cream cheese together, but it just seemed like it would work.

I rolled and breaded this like chicken Kiev, but this is easier because Kiev is filled with butter and the chicken must be sealed tight or it will all leak out before it hits the plate. As you can see in my pictures, the cream cheese can leak out and puff up and it's still perfect and actually made it more appealing to me since it gave a little preview of what's waiting inside!

It took a lot of hand washing, but I took pictures of each step of assembling this recipe to make it more helpful because I really want everyone to try this! I will write the recipe for 3 large chicken breasts because that's what I had to use, but you can follow the same technique for any number of them. If your chicken breasts are this large, one will feed two people (or if you're Erol, one and a half will feed you. Just kidding, honey!) To make ahead of time, completely assemble them and place on the oiled baking sheet and refrigerate. They can go straight from the fridge to the preheated oven, just drizzle the olive oil on the top before placing in the oven.

Cream Cheese & Scallion Stuffed Chicken
Chicken and filling:
3 large boneless and skinless chicken breasts
8oz cream cheese
4 scallions, chopped
olive oil
9 toothpicks

Breading:
1 cup flour
2 eggs beaten with a splash of water
1 cup panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prep breading ingredients in three separate bowls and season each bowl with salt and pepper. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly oil it.

Mix together the cream cheese and chopped scallions. Inside the bowl make a little mound for each chicken breast so it's easy to pick up with your hands.

Using a sharp knife, cut each chicken breast in half and spread open to create a larger, flatter piece. One at a time, place the pieces in a large freezer Zip Lock bag and pound out to make it even larger and flatter.

Lay out the pieces one at a time, cut side up and tapered end closest to you. Pick up a mound of the cream cheese and spread it on the lower 3/4 of the chicken.

Roll up the piece of chicken from the tapered end up, tucking in the edges as best you can. It's perfectly fine if there are some holes! Secure shut each piece with three toothpicks.

Once all the pieces are rolled up, bread them by dipping into the flour bowl, then egg bowl, then roll in the panko breadcrumbs. Place them on the oiled baking sheet, and drizzle olive oil on the top.

Bake for about 30 minutes and then insert a digital cooking thermometer into the center of the largest piece. It's done when it reaches 165 to 170 degrees, which may take up to an hour.

Don't forget to remove the toothpicks before serving.