Provencal Lemon Stuffed Chicken Breast

Chef Luis Felipe Lavieri

Ingredients

Compound Butter
-4 Table Spoon Unsalted room temperature Butter
-1 Poultry Mix Herbs (Thyme, Sage, Rosemary)
-1 Lemon
-2 pinch of salt
-(optional) 1 tbsp of Roasted Garlic

Chicken
2 Chicken Breasts
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Directions

Everybody and their second cousin knows how to cook chicken, and you probably think that this is probably one of the simplest chicken recipes that you will see, but the devil truly is in the details. I don't want you to just know how to cook a chicken but how to do so with the flare of a 3 star restaurant chef. If you follow the instructions, this dish will be one of the best dishes you eat this week.

Turn on and set the oven to 375 F

Grab 2 sprigs of thyme, 2 leaves of sages and one sprig of rosemary. Take all the little leaves off the stems on both the rosemary and the thyme. Chop up all the leafs liberally into very small pieces.

Mix the butter with the herbs, the zest of a lemon and salt (optional - and the garlic too).

Make an incision on the back side of the chicken with a paring knife. I have attached a drawing to help you out.

-Two very important tips here - Keep your fingers away from the sharp side of the blade. You are puncturing meat so it is very easy to slip and cut yourself. My recommendation is to lay the breast flat on a cutting board and to insert the knife away from you.

- The second tip is to go as far as the handle will take you. Paring knifes usually are between 3 and 5 inches long, while chicken breasts are usually around 5-6 inches long, which means that you won't be puncturing through. You want to create a pouch in which you can put the compound butter. If you don't make a hole on the other side, less butter will come out, and less of the natural juices of the chicken will come out. The end result is a juicer chicken with more flavour.

Stuff about 2 table spoons of the compound butter into the chicken.

Add 1 pinch of salt and 1 pinch of pepper to the outside of the chicken

In a hot pan at medium heat, add 1 tbsp of olive oil

Sear the chicken. About 3 minutes per side should be good enough. Each side should have turned golden by the time you turn/take the chicken off. Give it enough time per side to sear.

Place the seared chicken in the oven for 25-30 minutes depending on the size of your chicken breasts. If unsure whether your chicken is done, check the internal temperature with a thermometer. It should read 75 Celsius or 165 Fahrenheit.

Recommendation - If you happen to have a cookie cooling rack that is rated to be able to go in the oven, cook the chicken on the wire rack. This has the added benefit of distributing the heat evenly all around your chicken. If any juices come off, the chicken will not sit on them cooking the meat at two different temperatures.

After you take the chicken out of the oven, allow the chicken to rest for 10 minutes while covered (with a lid or aluminium paper). This allows the juices to sit in the meat, and your chicken won't dry out once cut.