Roasted Chicken Breasts With Fennel Sausage And Focaccia Stuffing Food

ITALIAN FENNEL SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine salt, fennel seed and red-pepper flakes. Add pork to the spice mixture along with the garlic, and wine. Using your hands, mix thoroughly for 1 full minute, until the pork begins to appear tacky and sticks to the palm of your hand.
• Heat a cast-iron pan over medium heat. Use a heaping tablespoon of pork mixture to make a small, thin sausage patty. Add a teaspoon or so of olive oil, and cook the patty for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Taste, and if needed, add salt or any other seasonings to the uncooked sausage mixture and mix to combine.
• Divide and form the remaining sausage into 8 2 1/2-inch patties, placing them on the prepared baking sheet as you go. Cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the flavors to come together. (Patties can be made ahead and covered and refrigerated or frozen at this point until ready to use.)
• To cook, wipe out cast-iron pan, and return to medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil. When it shimmers, add patties in a single layer, leaving space between them. Cook 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until browned on the surface and just cooked through.
• Drain sausages on paper towels, and serve hot.

PERFECT ROAST CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.
• Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.

FENNEL-SAUSAGE STUFFING

Steps:

• In a large deep skillet, saute 1/2 pound crumbled sweet Italian sausage in 6 tablespoons butter for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add 1 diced fennel bulb, 1 diced onion, and 1 tablespoon each chopped sage and thyme; cook 5 minutes, then add 1 diced peeled apple and cook 2 minutes. Pour in 2 1/2 to 3 cups chicken broth. In a large bowl, mix 2 eggs and 1/4 cup chopped parsley. Add to the bowl 16 cups toasted white bread cubes and the hot broth mixture. Gently toss the stuffing, then spread in a buttered 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Dot the top with butter or turkey pan drippings, cover and bake 30 minutes at 350. Uncover and bake until golden, 20 more minutes.

ONE-DISH CHICKEN AND STUFFING BAKE

Steps:

• Mix water and butter. Add stuffing. Mix lightly.
• Spoon stuffing along center of 3-quart shallow baking dish. Arrange chicken on each side of stuffing and sprinkle with paprika.
• Mix soup, milk and parsley. Pour over chicken. Cover.
• Bake at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes or until done.

SAUSAGE-STUFFED CHICKEN BREASTS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Place one chicken breast half at a time between sheets of plastic wrap, wax paper or, preferably, split-open plastic bags. Pound the breasts with a flat, heavy mallet, making them flat, but do not break the flesh of the breasts.
• Shape one-quarter pound of the sausage meat at a time into an oval. Place the sausage in the middle of a breast half and wrap to enclose it thoroughly, envelope fashion. Repeat with remaining sausage meat and breast halves.
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dredge lightly in flour and shake off excess.
• Heat the butter in a heavy skillet and add the chicken rolls. Cook, turning as often as necessary to brown lightly on all sides, about five minutes.
• Remove the chicken rolls to a baking dish.
• Add the onion and garlic to the skillet. Cook, stirring, until wilted. Add the wine and cook down until the wine is reduced by half.
• Add the bay leaf, thyme, tomatoes and tomato paste and stir to blend. Cook about one minute and add the chicken broth. Cook down about five minutes and pour the sauce over the chicken rolls.
• Place in the oven and bake 20 minutes. Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.

OVEN ROASTED STUFFED CHICKEN BREASTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking dish.
• In a bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, walnuts, Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, and oregano.
• Loosen the skin on the chicken breasts to form a pocket, and stuff with the ricotta cheese mixture. Arrange the chicken breasts in a single layer in the prepared baking dish, and brush with oil.
• Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

ROASTED CHICKEN BREAST

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Season chicken with salt and pepper. Transfer to a baking sheet fitted with a wire rack and cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part, without touching the bone, reads 165 degrees, 30 to 35 minutes.
• Transfer to a cutting board and rest, covered with foil, for 15 minutes before slicing.

SAUTEED CHICKEN BREASTS WITH FENNEL AND ROSEMARY

Steps:

• In a large nonstick frying pan, heat 2 1/2 teaspoon of the oil over moderately high heat. Add the fennel and half of the rosemary.
• Cook, stirring frequently, until the fennel is golden brown and almost done, about 10 minutes. Add broth and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat and simmer until the fennel is tender, about 3 minutes. Remove the fennel and the cooking liquid from the pan.
• Heat the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil over moderate heat. Pound chicken breasts so they are of an even thickness. Season the chicken with the 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon of the pepper. Add the chicken to the pan with the remaining 1 teaspoon of rosemary and cook until brown, about 4 minutes. Turn and cook until almost done, about 3 minutes longer.
• Add the garlic; cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the fennel and its cooking liquid and the remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Bring to a simmer. Move the fennel so that it sits on top of the chicken. Cover the pan and simmer on very low heat for 3 minutes. Stir in the parsley and serve.

ROAST CHICKEN WITH FENNEL

Steps:

• Heat oven to 450 degrees. Drizzle bottom of shallow roasting pan or baking sheet with about half the olive oil and cover it with a layer of the fennel. Overlap pieces if necessary but use whole pan. Drizzle remaining oil over fennel and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cut up chicken if necessary and sprinkle the pieces with salt and pepper.
• Top fennel with the chicken parts, skin side up. Ideally, you'll have a layer of fennel pretty much covered by a layer of chicken, but it's fine if some of the fennel roasts uncovered. Spoon some of the oil from bottom of pan over chicken. If there is not enough, drizzle additional olive oil over the chicken. Roast about 15 minutes, then baste chicken with pan drippings and rotate the pan. If necessary, adjust oven temperature so chicken browns but does not burn.
• The chicken will be done in about 30 minutes. Serve each piece with some fennel and a little of the pan juices spooned over, garnished with parsley and a lemon wedge.