How to cook the perfect Chicken Breast Recipe - Chicken Kiev - Recipe and Wine Pairing

**Preparation time:** 20 minutes
**Cooking time:** 85 minutes
**Serves up to eight people**

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There was a time - not so long ago - that the humble Chicken Kiev was a family favourite, a warming, hearty dish that was both popular and fashionable, and suitable for both fussy children and adults with a sophisticated palate. It fell out of favour at the beginning of the twentieth century, but now, thanks to a renewed interest in both honest home cooking and organic, free range chicken produce, it is firmly back on the menu.

This is a brilliantly flexible dish - this recipe is for the classic version you’ll find in restaurants across central and eastern Europe, but really, you can stuff the chicken breast with whatever takes your fancy.

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What you’ll need:

• Eight chicken breast fillets, skinless and boneless (free range if possible)
• 75 grams of grated Parmesan cheese, or similar
• 225 grams of dried breadcrumbs, or you can make your own from stale bread
• Five well beaten, free range eggs
• A pinch of paprika
• One hundred grams of plain white flour
• Four tablespoons of cooking oil (sunflower or vegetable)

For the filling:

• Two tablespoons of finely chopped, flat-leaf parsley
• Two hundred grams of softened butter
• Four cloves of garlic, crushed
• The juice of half a lemon

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Method:

First

Firstly, make your filling. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, and mash them up really well until completely blended. Once this is done, put it in the fridge for at least two hours, so you’ll be able to slice the mixture with a knife into even portions when stuffing your chicken breasts.

Second

Take your chicken breast, and slice into it with a sharp knife to make a deep pocket. Be careful not to cut all the way through, as the idea is not to let the filling leak out in the oven! Insert two small portions of the garlic butter, and squash down the breast with your hands to reseal the opening.

Third

Now for the fun part: set out three dishes, one with the breadcrumbs and parmesan mixed with it, one with the beaten eggs, and the last with the flour with a little salt scattered in. Dip each stuffed breast firstly into the flour, then the egg, and finally the breadcrumb mixture, and repeat the process for each one, so the kievs get a double coating for extra crispiness. Chill the breasts for an hour before cooking (or you can freeze overnight).

Fourth

Preheat your oven to 180C. Put the oil into a non-stick pan, and fry the chicken breasts for three minutes on each side to seal and colour, and then transfer them to a baking tray and cook in the oven for 25 minutes.

Last

Serve with a salad, or whatever side dishes you fancy - these kievs go with pretty much anything!

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Wine pairing for Chicken Kiev

Want to add a little wine to pair with the flavours of this dish? One of the best wine pairings for Chicken Kiev is Chablis.

Because chicken Kiev is a hearty, slightly greasy dish with all that butter, you want a wine which is going to be able to cut through the fats and hold its own against all that garlic. Chablis is a rich, buttery white wine from the Burgundy region of France, made from Chardonnay grapes.

This grape varietal brings out lovely creamy flavours, thanks to the process known as malolactic fermentation, and this will complement the garlic butter that’ll run out of your kievs as you cut into them, but it also has plenty of acidity and steeliness that will cleanse the palate and punch through the strong flavours of the dish, too.

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And there you have it; the recipe for the perfect Chicken Breast recipe, Chicken Kiev... And the perfect wine pairing.

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