Course:
Main
Cuisine:
Contemporary American
Servings:
2
Wine Pairing Recommendations
This dish goes exceptionally well with Chardonnay and Pinot Gris.
Prep time:
10 min
Cook time:
30 min
Total time:
40 min
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts, skin on
- 1 large parsnip
- 1 summer squash, white or green
- 4 slices of prosciutto
- 1/3 cup coffee cream
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/3 cup white wine
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp finely grated Parmesan
- 1 tbsp chives, finely chopped
- 2 sage leaves
- Splash of olive oil for frying (not shown)
- Salt and pepper to taste (not shown)
- Blue Cheese Compound butter (see recipe below)
Method
Prepare compound butter first:
Blue Cheese Compound butter
Ingredients
- 8 tbsp. unsalted butter
- 8 tbsp. Blue cheese
- 1 -2 tbsp. Italian parsley
Method
- Allow the butter and blue cheese to sit at room temperature until softened and pliable.
- Place the Italian parsley in a food processor and pulse until it is finely chopped. Then, add the blue cheese and butter to the food processor and pulse until the mixture is smooth and all components are well combined.
- Spread a piece of plastic wrap over a flat work surface. Scrape the butter mixture onto the plastic wrap. Using a scraper, shape the mixture into a single line. Roll the plastic wrap tightly around the butter mixture to form a log.
- Place the log in the refrigerator to set.
Prepare the Main dish:
- Dice the summer squash and parsnip, and finely chop the chives. Grate the Parmesan. Set aside until ready to use.
- Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper to your liking.
- Remove the compound butter from the fridge and unwrap it. Slice three rounds from the butter log.
- Carefully lift the skin on a chicken breast with your fingers. Place one sage leaf, one round of compound butter and one tablespoon of grated Parmesan under the chicken breast. Repeat the same with the second chicken breast.
- Starting from the skin side, wrap each chicken breast with a slice of prosciutto and set aside until ready to cook.
- To prepare the parsnip purée, combine the chopped parsnip, chicken broth, coffee cream, salt, and pepper in a small pot. Bring it to a boil over medium-low heat, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Once a knife slides easily into the parsnip, it is ready to be puréed, in about 7 minutes.
- Place the parsnip and cooking liquids into a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until smooth. Set aside and keep warm while you cook the chicken and summer squash.
- To cook the chicken, heat a suitable-sized frying pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the oil, followed by the chicken, skin-side down. After about 5-7 minutes, once the chicken releases on its own, flip it to the other side. Cook until done, about 7-8 minutes, and place it onto a plate to rest. Loosely tent with foil while you cook the summer squash and prepare the pan sauce.
- Using the same pan with the reserved chicken juices and oil from the cooked chicken, add the wine, chopped chives, salt, and pepper, and let it reduce on low heat. Once you have about 2 tablespoons of sauce left in the pan, take it off the heat and add the remaining round of the compound butter. Gently swirl until everything is well combined and the sauce looks slightly syrupy.
- At the same time as you are making the pan sauce, heat another frying pan over medium-high heat. Add oil, followed by the chopped summer squash, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring infrequently, until the squash is soft and has a bit of colour, about 5-7 minutes.
- To serve the dish, plate the parsnip purée first. Top it with a slice of chicken. Plate a couple of spoons of summer squash next to the chicken. Spoon the pan sauce on top of the chicken and squash.
Enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- Blue Cheese butter can be made upfront and frozen for up to a year. Do not worry if you made too much of it. This versatile butter is a solution for when you need to brighten a steak or elevate a variety of meat dishes.
- You can use either 1 or 2 tablespoons of Italian parsley. Using more will make the parsley flavour in your butter more pronounced, which works great for steaks. Less parsley in the compound butter works better if you want to use it with chicken dishes.
- To make compound butter, you need your cheese and butter ingredients to soften at room temperature. Never microwave the butter or use cold, straight-from-the-fridge butter.
- To check the chicken for doneness, cut the chicken through the thickest part of the breast and peek inside. The chicken should be pink, and the juices should run clear of any blood.