When I received this as a gift it came with a note from Granny: "You will know people in this book and I think you will enjoy some of these recipes." And she's right! I was flipping through the chicken section and found a recipe that had puff pastry in it and was by Mrs. Mary Etta Flowers. I knew right away this was a win-win recipe! First because Patrick loves puff pastry and secondly because Mrs. Mary Etta's yummy cooking reputation precedes her and I knew this would be delicious (I was probably subconsciously browsing for her recipes).
While preparing dinner I was talking to Mom on the phone and told her what we were making because I was excited. We hung up and then Patrick and I continued making dinner. Mom calls me back and says, "Whitney this looks hard." And my initial response was "no way Mom" but then I realized we just skipped over the hard parts in the recipe. So if you're looking to making a meal to impress someone follow Mrs. Mary Etta's recipe as written below. If you're having a more casual meal my notes are at the bottom.
Ingredients
1 (17.5 oz) package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
1 (4 oz) container garlic and spice flavored Allouette cheese or 1/2 cup chives and onion flavored cream cheese
6 skinned and boned chicken breast halves
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp water
Directions
Unfold pastry sheets, and roll each sheet into a 14x12" rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Cut one sheet into four 7x6" rectangles; cut second sheet into two 7x6" rectangles and one 12x6" rectangle. Set large rectangle aside. Shape each small rectangle into an oval by trimming off corners. Spread pastry ovals evenly with cheese. Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper, and place in center of each pastry oval. Lightly moisten pastry edges with water. Fold ends over chicken, fold sides over, and press to seal. Place bundle, seam side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet. Cut remaining large pastry rectangle into long thin strips. Braid 2 strips together, and place crosswise over chicken bundle trimming and tucking ends under. Repeat procedure with remaining strips to make chicken bundles resemble wrapped packages. Cover and refrigerate up to 2 hours, if desired. Combine egg and 1 tbsp water; brush over pastry bundles. Bake at 400F on lower oven rack for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Garnish with kale leaves, if desired.
Patrick and I started with only one puff pastry sheet. (The other was used in this pot pie.) And with only one puff pastry sheet this recipe was quickly halved. I used a container of the new Philadelphia Cooking Cheese spread. I meant to buy a flavored one like Garlic or Italian herb but when I got home the Original flavor was in my bag. So I added 2 cloves of minced garlic to the cheese spread and freshly chopped chives! Another note to the ingredients: we used 2 large chicken breasts cut into 3-inch little slabs.
Here's our prep station. We cut the pastry sheet into six rectangles. Then placed a dollop of the garlic and chives cream cheese spread on the pastry. Topped the cheese spread with a chicken breast and then salt and pepper.
Like so... and now they're ready to be rolled and washed in egg!
Shameless self promotion of some of our new kitchen toys! We now have some mini prep cups to feel "chef-y" and cool. And also a silicone brush for brushing liquid on things, ya know.
We brushed the chicken pastry bundles with the egg wash and baked them in the oven pretty much according to the recipe. We put the timer a little shorter than the recipe since these were smaller and checked for doneness.
Here they are! With some steam-in-a-bag garlic peas and mushrooms!
I am going to call Mary Etta today and tell her to look up your blog! Sounds delicious.
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