The random ingredients selected by Sarah from Simply Cooked left me a bit worried. How could I pull Dried Dates, Currents, Bread, & Kale into a dish????????
Firstly I had to find a substitute for Kale (wrong season) so something from the same family to keep it similar - cavoelo nero was the choice.
Next: What to create.
Thinking about the different flavours, sweet for the currents & dates; neutral with bread (well most types); & savoury cabbage... Hmmmm.
For what ever reason (& I still don't know where it came from) I decided to do a chicken roll or stuffed chicken.
A chicken breast, flattened, with a cavolo nero (or kale), date & current layer, rolled & steamed.
Actually sounded quite nice, and tasted great, but didn't photograph well at all...
Contents:
2 tbls chopped currents
2 tbls finely diced dates
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/4 stp chili powder
2 tbls butter
1 tsp fresh tarragon, chopped
Handful cavolo nero leaves (no stems)
2 chicken breasts
Salt
Pepper
Process:
Clean & remove any stems from the cavelo nero - you only want the tender leaves - & place into a steamer.
Steam until very tender & remove to cool.
When cool enough to handle, finely chop.
Melt butter in a saucepan over a low heat.
When starting to bubble add the garlic & cook until starting to go translucent.
Add dates, currents & chili, & cook for a few minutes.
Add bread crumbs & gently stir allowing them to absorb all the butter.
Add tarragon & remove from heat and allow to cool.
Pound the chicken breasts into a flat roughly rectangular shape.
Place each flat breast on a piece of cling film - hindsight is amazing.
Spread a layer of the chopped cavolo nero over each breast.
Layer the sweet bread crumb mixture over it & season with salt & pepper.
Messy part now.. Tightly roll the chicken & hope the stuffing doesn't fall out too much, use the cling film to help roll it.
Wrap tightly in 2 layers of cling film.
Steam for about 8-9 minutes, just enough to cook the chicken & warm the the centre.
Gently remove the cling film - I used scissors rather than trying to unwrap.
with a Sharp knife, cut slices on an angle.
This was served with a verblanc.
