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Vera's Chicken in Puff Pastry

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Served with An Army of Angels.

Estragon Chicken in puff pastry coat (recipe for about 4 people)

1 sheet of puff pastry (available in the frozen food section of P&C or Wegman's, there are 2 sheets per pack) 
500 g chicken breasts 
1 lemon 
2 cloves of garlic 
150 g cream cheese 
2 egg yolks 
2 tablespoons bread crumbs 
60 g finely chopped mushrooms 
1 pack of fresh tarragon oil salt pepper

0. marinade the chicken (optional step, more important if you make the recipe with beef filet): chop one clove or garlic, take the leaves off of two tarragon stalks and chop them finely. Put both into a flat container that is large enough so that you will be able to lay all the chicken parts in. Add enough oil so that the bottom of the container is covered. Squeeze half a lemon in there, add some pepper. Mix well, then put the chicken pieces in and turn them around so that they are covered on all sides with the mixture. Put in the fridge for a couple of hours or over night.

1. Take the sheet of puff pastry out of the freezer and let it warm up. It should be used after 20-25min, so if you think you'll need more than that for steps 2-4, do it later. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2. prepare mushrooms Chop the other clove of garlic, and sauté together with the mushrooms in a little oil until the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated. Take mushrooms out of the pan with a slotted spoon and put them in a bowl that is large enough that the chunk of cream cheese will fit in as well.

3. In the same pan, brown the chicken pieces a little. If you did not marinate the chicken, you'll have to add a some oil. Don't fully cook the chicken, just brown it a little for a fuller flavor (and to get rid of some of the juice that otherwise will make the dough soggy).

4. Meanwhile, chop the leaves of 3-4 more stalks of tarragon, add to the mushrooms, add the cream cheese and the bread crumbs, one egg yolk, salt and pepper to taste and mix until homogenous.

5. Carefully unfold the puff pastry, and try to make it a little larger by rolling over it with [whatever you call this baking tool]. Evenly spread the mushroom-creamcheese mixture on it, leaving a half-inch border everywhere. Arrange the chicken pieces slightly overlapping in a row such that there is about one inch dough left on either side of the row. Then start to roll the dough such that the row of chicken pieces gets wrapped up. Ply in the end of the dough like you would if wrapping a present. Dip a brush into the other egg yolk and put it under the seems and the plied parts as glue. Then brush the surface of the dough with egg yolk as well.

6. Lift the whole thing on a floured cookie sheet and bake for about 45 minutes.

Last updated: November 21, 2000.