In the words of my son Caleb, I created some “Chicken of the Sea.”
A few weeks ago I followed a recipe for stuffed chicken and Melisa didn’t care for it. It was fairly bland and I wanted to incorporate seafood this time. I was looking for a good stuffed chicken recipe and just wasn’t able to find anything that sounded good. So I decided to break with Italian tradition and combined seafood and cheese with a Cajun envelope. Prep time was about 30 minutes (using pre-cooked seafood). I served the chicken over jasmine rice; however, I serve it with red beans and rice the next time. I was very happy with the results and will probably add this to my regular rotation of dinners.
“Got a freezer-full of chicken but sick of chicken? Spice it up by stuffing it with a creole-inspired seafood mixture!”
- 4 -5 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 4 tbsp butter
- ¾ cup of milk
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup of chicken broth
- ¼ cup of crabmeat
- ¼ cup of shrimp (no larger than medium unless cut up)
- ¼ cup of crackers or breadcrumbs
- ¼ cup of vegetable of choice (I used 5-6 stalks of asparagus)
- ½ tsp of sea salt
- 2 tbsp of fresh parsley
- 2 tbsp of red wine
- 1 cup of pepper jack cheese
- Creole/ Cajun seasoning (I used Tony’s Original Creole Seasoning)
- ¼ tsp freshly grounded Black Pepper
- ½ tsp of paprika
- ½ tsp of cumin
- To make the roux, in a medium saucepan melt 3 tbsp of butter slowly. Add ¼ cup of all purpose flour. Stir for several minutes until it is smooth and creamy. Mix ¾ cup of milk (no less than 2% fat) and 1 cup of chicken broth and then slowly mix in stirring continuously. Bring to boil and stir for 2 mins. Set aside.
- In a medium skillet melt 1 tbsp of butter. Add crab, shrimp and vegetable. Grill on medium for 1 – 2 minutes and then add salt, pepper, parsley, red wine and 2 tbsp of the roux from your saucepan. Continue warming for 2 -3 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Butterfly the chicken breasts and flatten them out on a wax paper sheet. Sprinkle a liberal amount of Creole seasoning onto chicken. Spread seafood mixture (about ½ cup) on top of chicken. Take ¼ cup of pepper jack cheese and a light sprinkling of breadcrumbs and spread over top of mixture. Fold chicken over and secure with a toothpick. Place chicken into a 9” greased casserole or baking dish.
- Cover the chicken with the remaining roux and bake for 35 – 40 minutes at 350°F.
- Remove the chicken and sprinkle remaining cheese, paprika and cumin.
- Bake for 5 more minutes and remove. Make sure chicken is cooked thoroughly using a meat thermometer.
- Serve with rice. I used jasmine rice; however, red beans and rice would be a great option.
