Chicken Roulade

When you cook dinner for me don’t tell me your secret recipe or it’s liable to end up on this blog. If I ask you what exactly you stuffed a chicken with and you tell me, I’m going to mentally write it down, recreate it, and publish it for the entire internet to see. Grandmothers of the world with secret recipes, beware! I spent years figuring out how to make the perfect chicken curry, and it took many nights of prodding our local Indian restaurant to give us some insider information. If you make something really great, I will remake it a hundred times to try and figure out what is in that delicious dish.

This Christmas, my Uncle Nick made what he calls “Chicken Ho Ho,” which is chicken stuffed with sun-dried tomatoes and herbs, rolled up and baked. I had one bite, and it was so incredibly juicy and delicious I had to make it myself. I love a good chicken recipe. I call it Chicken Roulade because I wasn’t listening hard enough when he told me what was in it, so I made a version of my own.

I think you could add a number of things to make this recipe even better. Add a couple spoonfuls of pesto to the stuffing or some pine nuts and parmesan. It would be delicious however you make it. It’s a bit involved to make the meat into a perfect rectangle, but I have included images below to help you.

First, here is a list of a few things you need:

wax paper

a meat mallet OR a heavy cast iron skillet with a handle

kitchen twine

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kitchen scissors

a food processor (though you could probably chop everything finely)

First, butterfly your chicken by slicing through each chicken breast horizontally, and opening them flat like a book. Then place them on a large piece of wax paper side by side into about a 14 inch rectangle shape. Overlap the edges slightly.

Then cover with another piece of wax paper. Using the meat mallet or the skillet, hit the meat hard all over until it starts to thin and expand. The meat should be about 1/4-1/3 inch thick when it’s done. You will have a kind of misshapen layer, so peel back the wax paper and rearrange a little if necessary so that there are no holes and the pieces overlap just a hair. Cut off the edges that are too misshapen to get more of rectangle shape, and then add them to any holes if necessary or discard. Then salt and pepper this layer generously.

In a food processor, pulse the sundried tomatoes, leaving the oil in the jar. Add breadcrumbs, rosemary, sage and salt and pepper. Pulse into a paste and spread all over the chicken.

Cut 7 or so pieces of kitchen twine into 12 inch pieces. Drizzle some oil in a 9×14 baking dish. Carefully roll the chicken from the longest side over, peeling back the wax paper until you have a rolled up cylinder. Use the kitchen twine to carefully tie each piece of twine around the cylinder in a knot, every two inches. Once rolled up tight, salt and pepper it generously and place in your prepared dish and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Now for the fun part! Bake for 50 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked through. Cut the twine off, move to a cutting board, and slice into inch thick slices.

Use all the juices from the pan to make a sauce. Add the sundried tomato juice and whisk together with the drippings.

Pour the sauce over the whole dish of chicken.

Serve immediately with a fresh green salad!

It’s a beautiful dish and perfect for company.