Chicken Kiev: Breast Stuffed with Garlic and Parsley Butter
A flattened breast wrapping a cylinder of garlic and parsley butter, shaped in plastic wrap and breaded in panko: when cut, the filling melts out and acts as a sauce. The secret is not the filling but the freezer — two rounds of chilling, one before breading and one before frying, are what prevent the butter from escaping during cooking.
Ingredients
- 4 large boneless chicken breasts
- 80 g butter at room temperature
- 4 large garlic cloves
- 1 generous handful of fresh parsley
- 4 tbsp wheat flour
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp mustard
- 12 tbsp panko (or regular breadcrumbs)
- Neutral oil for frying (abundant)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method
- 1
Peel the garlic cloves, cut them in half, and remove the center sprout, which is the bitter part. Chop them into pieces, season with salt and pepper, and crush them in a mortar until they form a paste.
- 2
Add the chopped parsley and crush again. The impact of the mortar releases the aroma that a knife does not.
- 3
Incorporate the butter and work it with the other two ingredients until it is green and uniform. A mortar is better than a food processor: this way the fat absorbs the chlorophyll from the parsley without the leaves losing texture.
- 4
Place the flavored butter on plastic wrap, close it like a candy wrapper forming an even cylinder, and place it in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes, until it hardens.
- 5
Trim and clean the breasts, removing the strip of meat from the back. They can be left whole for one large piece per person or opened in half lengthwise for two smaller ones.
- 6
Cover each breast with plastic wrap and pound it until it is a thin, even fillet. If it is thicker on one side, that is exactly where it will open.
- 7
Remove the butter from the refrigerator, cut it into four, and place a piece in the center of each fillet.
- 8
Fold all sides over the butter until a sphere is closed, without leaving any open seams: that is where it will leak.
- 9
Wrap each ball in plastic wrap, tightening firmly, which is what finishes giving it its shape, and place it in the freezer for about 45 minutes. The idea is for it to harden without becoming frozen; depending on the size of the breast and the power of the freezer, it may need a little longer.
- 10
Remove from the freezer, remove the plastic wrap, and coat each piece in flour, removing any excess afterward.
- 11
Beat the eggs with the mustard, salt, and pepper. Dip the breast in there and coat with panko, pressing so that the coating sticks to the entire surface. Panko is a Japanese breadcrumb made from the crumb of sandwich bread, without crust, and provides a lighter and crunchier crust; regular breadcrumbs also work.
- 12
Return the breaded pieces to the freezer for 15 more minutes. This second chill is what sets the breading before it touches the oil.
- 13
Fry in abundant hot oil, exactly 1 minute on each side. This is only to brown the crust, not to cook the chicken.
- 14
Transfer the pieces to an oven preheated to 180 °C for 20 minutes, or 15 if they were made small. This finishes cooking the interior without burning the breading.
- 15
Turn off the oven and let rest for a couple of minutes before plating. When cut, the garlic and parsley butter overflows onto the plate.