Dried apricots and brie are a great combination on their own. But chicken with dried apricots and brie stuffing is on a higher level. With the mustard maple sauce, this combination rose to a new level of awesomeness. And yes, that is a word.
Chicken breast, like tofu, is a great vehicle for other flavours. It contributes its own flavour, but it is not a dominating flavour, unlike the meat from chicken legs. This combination with apricots, brie and pancetta was particularly successful.
Like salmon, cooking chicken is fraught with danger. Undercooking salmon can be disconcerting for the consumer but doesn’t have the same health risks as undercooking chicken. Overcooking either chicken or salmon will be disastrous. Dry and cardboard-like. It is easy to get this right, though, if you use a cooking thermometer. If you don’t have one, do yourself a favour and get one.
Another approach is to sous vide the chicken, then quickly brown it in a pan. This produces very juicy tender chicken, as in this chicken breast on a carrot salad and white bean puree. While it would extend the cooking time a bit, using sous vide to cook the chicken stuffed with apricots would be a good choice if you have a sous vide device.
The chicken with dried apricots and brie stuffing, while delicious, will be even better with a supporting cast. The mushroom quinoa base has a wonderful earthy, nutty character. And the mustard maple sauce is essential, like a crown on a queen. If you cannot find black garlic, use roasted garlic.
Chicken with dried apricots and brie stuffing. Mustard maple sauce
Ingredients
Mustard maple drizzle
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp water
- 2 Tbsp whole grain mustard
- 3 Tbsp pure maple syrup
- 3 cloves black garlic, finely chopped optional – Substitute with roast garlic
- 1 Tbsp chopped parsley
- 1 Tbsp truffle oil optional
Chicken with apricots and brie
- 4 chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup dried apricots chopped to the same size as pine nuts
- 1/2 a round of Brie
- 50 g pancetta
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1/2 cup flour
Mushroom Quinoa
- 1/2 cup quinoa red quinoa preferred
- 1 cup water
- 1 onion
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 1/2 cups chopped mushrooms (button, shiitake, cremini…)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Instructions
Mustard maple drizzle
- Mix together and let sit for an hour or two for the flavours to integrate
Chicken with apricots and brie
- Put a chicken breast between two sheets of plastic wrap.
- Bash until 5-8mm thick.
- Repeat for the other chicken breasts.
- Roll the pancetta, brie, pine nuts, and chopped apricots inside the flattened chicken breasts, and tie with baking string.
- Dredge in flour.
- Brown in olive oil, then finish in the oven a 200 deg C for 10 minutes or until internal temp is 74 degC.
- Let rest for 15 minutes.
Mushroom Quinoa
- Rinse the quinoa and add to a rice cooker with 1 cup water. Alternatively simmer in a covered saucepan until the water is absorbed (about 20 minutes)
- Cook one onion and 5 cloves garlic in olive oil and butter until fragrant (5 minutes)
- Add chopped mushrooms.
- Cook until reduced and browned.
- Mix mushrooms with cooked quinoa.
To serve
- Remove the cooking string from the chicken.
- Slice the chicken into 15cm slices.
- Spread some mushroom quinoa on the plate.
- Top with a couple of clicks of stuffed chicken.
- Drizzle with the mustard maple dressing.
Mushroom and chestnut puree, roasted baby potatoes, roasted garlic
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