Having created what I think is an amazing Ham replacement called VAM I've been focusing on innovative recipes to showcase this wonderful cured meat. I think I pulled it off again with this recipe. It's an amazingly easy recipe to make and is quite tasty for the amount of work you have to do.
All you need are some boneless skinless chicken breasts. As many as you want. I chose an extra large one but retrospect it was way too big. The servings were huge. I used the Sous-Vide method of cooking so the size of the breast is inconsequential.
Vacuum seal all your breasts and set circulator at 144 f. Once your circulator hits 144 f toss in the chicken and lower temp to 140 f. Cook for 3 hours. After the three hours have elapsed remove chicken and Shock in Ice Water. Proceed to next step or refrigerate until ready.
I SV the Chicken breasts 24 hours in advance. BTW- As an option you can also dry brine the breasts. I love doing this because it makes for tastier breasts and keeps them moister.
You need Puff Pastry sheets!!!! Awesome stuff. You will need at a minimum one sheet per two breasts.
Let the pastry sheets come to room temp. It's gonna take about 45-60 minutes to accomplish the thawing. You don't want to roll out frozen sheets.
Roll out sheets and cut them down the middle. Roll them out one at a time too!!!
Have some Dijon Mustard on hand and a pastry brush.
In a separate bowl or plate you're gonna want to Salt (if you did not dry brine) and pepper the chicken. Coat Chicken with Mustard using the pastry brush. Also brush some mustard on the Puff Pastry.
Place 3 slices (or more) of Swiss Cheese and 3 (or more) slices of VAM (I don't eat Pork so use whatever you want) in the center of the Puff Pastry. Sprinkle on some chives too if you have them.
Place Breast on Top. Note: using a cold breast will prevent over cooking while baking pastry.
More Vam!!!!!
More Cheese
More Chives.....
Coat the edges with Egg wash (one egg and some water) using a pastry brush. The egg wash is the glue.
Make sure when you fold them up you get rid of the extra pastry. If you don't it will cook unevenly and be a little doughy. In other words use just enough pastry to cover the chicken. Yes you're going to overlap but don't quadruple overlap. When you fold under the sides there will be extra dough so trim this away a little. Anyhow make some slits on/into the pastry so gases can escape, coat with more egg wash (for browning) and top with some chives. I baked mine at 400 f for about 30 minutes.
The Sauce "Dijon Pinot Grigio Cream Sauce"
This dish would be incomplete without a sauce. I didn't write down all that I did but sauce making is quite easy. Start out with a stick of butter and heat in a saucier. Toss in some chopped shallots and saute for a few minutes. Add about 3-4 tbsp of flour and make a roux. Cook for a few more minutes. Deglaze with your favorite Pinot and cook down for about a minute or two. Add some chicken stock, salt and pepper. Add some cream. Get the sauce to the right consistency that you want. Add Dijon mustard to taste and some chives. Continue to cook the sauce and taste and adjust if need be. Cook until desired thickness is achieved.
Review- Simply amazing!!! I won't change a thing except to use a smaller chicken breast. I might experiment with some other cheeses too.
Gratuitous pictures below
TOP OF THE BREASTS
