Stuffed Chicken Breast Report

Nature Boy

Howdy!
The stuffed breasts were much better than I thought they would be. After all the great advice I got, I took to the kitchen. Pulled out what I thought was the fresh spinach, and washed it. Talking to my wife on the phone, I found out the spinach was gone, and I was washing a Vietnamese veggie we use in soup (translated "slimy spinach"). [p]Back to the drawing board, I looked around and found some frozen chopped spinach buried in the freezer. Probably been there a year, and smelled like a freezer. Running out of time, I sauteed some shallots and garlic in some olive oil, added spinach (and a little chicken broth) and stir fried a minute, then closed lid and let cook a little.[p]In a bowl, I cracked an egg, and dumped in the spinach. Then I stirred in about a 1 inch slice from the block of cream cheese, and followed with maybe 1/2 cup of rice, salt/pepper. Stirred up and ended up with a perfect consistency (lucky).[p]After pounding the breast out, and coating with Prudhomes Poultry Magic, I put some stuffing on, and awkwardly gathered up the edges, and secured with toothpicks (made a big mess with my large hands), and they weren't exactly pretty. This takes practice.[p]Humpty was preheated to 400, and I set the breast globs in my new Tufty Ceramic Roasting dish, and laid it on preheated firebricks. Tep got a bit out of hand while I was inside, and had climbed over 500 when I got back outside. Tapped vents closed a bit, and after 25 minutes, I stuck the polder into the globs of chicken, and got a 165 reading (lucky again). Pulled it off and served it up.[p]This was good. The high temps didn't hurt, and maybe helped. Could have used a bit more of the poultry magic rub, but otherwise was a pleasant surprise...and fairly simple except for the stuffing part. The chicken was browned, but moist inside. The spinach did even not taste funky from a year in the freezer.[p]The ceramic roasting pan worked beautifully. Some of the egg/cheese had oozed out and burnt on the ceramic, but it cleaned up easily. Looks like it holds up well in the egg (if you use firebricks)...even after after my temp got away from me. Tufty Ceramics look like a great eggcessory.[p]Thanks for all the great advice. I have a stack of recipes to try now![p]Cheers
NB

sprinter

Nature Boy,[p]NB, did you have any trouble with the chicken getting done and the stuffing now being cooked well? I've had a problem with the pork loins (jelly rolled) with the pork getting done on the outside and starting to get charred with the inside still needing to cook. I was just curious where you measured the temp. and was the stuffing done well enough? On the pork loin I do a lower and slower cook to get it done all the way through, then kick up the heat a bit at the end to crust the outside (if you want).[p]Chicken sounds great. I have some fresh snapper and amberjack that I'm cooking for the folks tonight. I plan on using a recipe given to me by Grillin Bill, sounds awesome. I'll let you know. The cobia I talked about a few weeks ago was unfortunately eaten before I ever got any, breaded and deep fried by my parents with some friends. My dad is in Michigan this weekend fishing with a buddy, should have some King Salmon home by Sunday, if they get any.[p]Troy

Tim M

Nature Boy,[p]Your cooking adventures always get me laughing. Slimy spinach huh?? Sounds wonderful.[p]I did my chicken breasts last night at 400 for 15 min. 500 for 25 min must have put a bit of a char on them - did it?[p]Tim

Nature Boy

sprinter,
The stuffing was already cooked (except the egg). The polder reading I got was from the stuffing probably, but the chicken ended up perfectly done. I would think with lean breast meat on the outside, if you had stuffing that needed cooking then the meat would dry out by the time the stuffing was cooked. Who knows...this is new to me. There was definitely quite a bit of luck involved with my success![p]I was just thinking now that maybe a slathering of mustard would have been a nice addition to the chicken.[p]Good luck with the fish
NB[p]

Nature Boy

Tim M,
As the chicken was in the ceramic dish, there was no char (I know how much you love char!)[p]Did you do yours direct??[p]Actually the slimy spinach is great in soup. Even better when you consider it's nutritional value. It amazes me how many great veggies they have in the Asian markets that I never even knew existed. [p]NB

Mary

Nature Boy,[p]Sounds like another winner. So what exactly are the tufty dishes like? Is it glazed or unglazed? How thick is the dish? Did you put it on firebricks or just the grill? As always, your adventures make better cooks out of us all.[p]Mary

RhumAndJerk

Nature Boy,
Sounds great. You did a good job at improvising. The next thing you know, you will be shelving the cookbooks.[p]Way to go,
RhumAndJerk[p]

Nature Boy

Mary,
I posted a response , but it never showed!
Anyway, here is the link to Tufty Ceramics. The website answers all of your questions. I am going to order more of the stuff. I have the Oval Roasting pan now.[p]It is a great product for egging. Karen Tufty told me they are okay in an oven up to 500, but don't do well with thermal shock...like cooking over direct coals. [p]Cheers
NB
[ul][li]Killer Ceramic Cookware[/ul]

Mary

Nature Boy,
I've looked at the site, and it tells precious little about them. Let me rephrase, is the coating smooth like a glaze or a different texture - does is soak up water or hold it? You did use fire bricks? I'm curious whether these perform differently than the high fired Le Creuseut or Emile Henri dishes that also are rated for 500F. And how thick are the dishes? Thanks[p]Mary

Mary

RhumAndJerk,[p]Actually, I'm thinking NB is well on his way at being able to publish a cookbook. He's made up some great recipes.[p]Mary

sprinter

Mary,[p]Yeah, he could call it:[p]Winging it on the BGE[p]Pun completely intended there.[p]Troy

Gretl

Nature Boy,
Did you oil the outside of the meat or add any wine or stock to prevent the outside from becoming too dry? Sounds like the stuffing was very good. And of course, I'm sorely tempted to order the Tufty pan. Yeah, like I need to spend MORE money!
Cheers,
G.

Nature Boy

Mary,
The coating is not chalky, but not glazed looking either. It doesn't absorb water. The surface is treated with a coating of tiny crushed clay particles that prevents the food from sticking. They suggest seasoning it with a coating of veggie oil, and put in oven at 250 for an hour. The dish is about 1/8 inch thick, or slightly more.[p]I used firebricks.[p]

Nature Boy

Gretl,
I was gonna put oil on the outside, but I had made such a mess trying to stuff those dang things, that I just chucked the globs in my pan and thru it on. The meat was not dry at all, but would coat with oil if I had more time. I think the stuffing does a lot to keep the meat moist. A nice mustard slather would probably help as well.

Mary

Nature Boy,
Thanks. The Le Cresuet is thicker than that - maybe a 1/4", but ordinary glazed.[p]Mary

Nature Boy

Mary,
Sorry. I just measured again, and I meant 1/4 inch.
My rulerlexia was flaring up I guess.