When I was a young homemaker, many moons ago, one of my favorite recipes to serve for company was Chicken wrapped in Puffed Pastry. I could assemble everything early in the day, brush an egg wash on as my guests arrived and then serve a beautiful, flaky, buttery puff pastry bundles and receive lots of oohs and ahhs.
I have recently revisited my old recipe and given it a little update. I add chopped sun dried tomatoes, pesto and herbed goat cheese to the bundles . I slice the chicken in half- long ways- to ensure the chicken bakes through but stays extra moist. Homemade pesto is absolute superior to store bought, but for a relatively easy dinner with a wow factor, use store bought. I won’t judge you. It is SO important that these bundles chill throughly before baking for the best flaky pastry. Chill at least 30 minutes, but preferably 2-3 hours. Serve with roasted veggies, Pommes Anna and a glass of white wine. Enjoy!
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Sun Dried tomato & Pesto Chicken bundles
1 package of frozen puff pastry, thawed
2 chicken breasts, sliced in half lengthwise and ends trimmed
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic salt4 TBSP pesto
1/2 cup sliced sun dried tomatoes in olive oil
4 TBSP herbed fresh goat cheese
1 egg
1 TBSP water
* Kitchen tool-parchment paper
Method- Prep time 2-3 hours, baking time- 20 minutes
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out thawed puff pastry into a large rectangle. Slice into 4 squares. Set squares on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roll second piece of puff pastry out and cut out 16- 6″ strips. Set all pastry aside. You will have leftover puff pastry. Freeze leftovers and save for another use.
- Season chicken breasts with salt, pepper and garlic salt. Set each piece of trimmed chicken onto center of puff pastry squares.
- Place 1 TBSP of fresh goat cheese on center of chicken. Then top cheese with about 1/2 TBSP of tomatoes, and 1 TBSP of pesto.
- Take each corner of the puff pastry square and bring to the center creating a small bundle. seal edges together with water to “melt” the seams together. Take 2 of the long strips. Pinch ends together and fold over each other to create a twist or braid. Repeat with additional strips to create a total of 8 braids. Cover seams of each bundle with one braided twist and then cover the other seam with second twist- like a “hot cross bun”. Repeat to create a total of 4 bundles. Seal edges well to prevent filling from leaking.
- Cover all bundles loosely with plastic wrap to prevent drying and chill in fridge for 2-3 hours. You can leave bundles in fridge for up to 8 hours.
- Pre- heat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a small bowl whisk together egg and 1 TBSP water.
- Remove bundles from fridge. With a pastry brush, coat all puff pastry with egg wash. This will help seal edges as well as provide a glossy finish to the pastry. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until deep golden brown. Let rest for 10-15 minutes before serving.
If puff pastry begins to “weep” or get too difficult to handle, pop back in the fridge. It is critically important to chill the puff pastry prior to baking. this will ensure the layers flake during baking. Otherwise, you will have soggy pastry.
