Stuffed chicken thighs with sage and blue cheese
14
- Prep Time15 mins
- Total Time15 mins
- Makes4 servings
Ingredients
5 green onions
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
pinch salt
pinch ground black pepper
2 tbsp blue cheese salad dressing
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese, or feta (optional)
toothpicks
1 tbsp garlic butter, or 1 tbsp butter and 1 tsp bottled chopped garlic or 1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp dried sage leaves
1/4 cup white wine, or chicken broth
Instructions
Starting at green end of onions, slice into 3-inch- (7.5-cm-) long pieces. Set aside totally white ends and refrigerate for another use. Place thighs, cut side up, on a large cutting board or waxed paper. Open and sprinkle with salt and pepper, then spread each with a scant teaspoon (4 mL) dressing. Place a rounded teaspoon (6 mL) blue cheese in centre of each thigh and top with 1 green onion piece. Save remaining green onion pieces. Roll chicken around cheese and onion, then secure with 1 or 2 toothpicks. If any of cheese pops out, just push it back in.
Melt garlic butter in a large, non-stick frying pan over medium heat. If using regular butter, melt in frying pan, then add garlic. Add thighs and cook until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Reduce heat to medium-low. Crumble sage over chicken. Pour wine into pan. Using a wooden spoon, scrape up and stir in any brown bits from bottom of pan.
Cover and cook, turning thighs halfway through, until chicken is springy when pressed, 12 to 14 more minutes. Remove to dinner plates. Add remaining green onion pieces to liquid in pan and stir until wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour over chicken. Great with rice or buttered egg noodles and a romaine salad.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories 221, Protein 22.5g, Carbohydrates 2.6g, Fat 12.5g, Fibre 0.5g, Sodium 222mg.
You can still get fancy when entertaining on a budget. Choose chicken thighs ? they're good value without compromising taste. In fact, they are juicier and packed with more flavour than pricier chicken breasts. We've dressed them up with garlic butter, creamy blue cheese and a?hint of sage ? and they look dramatic rolled around green onions.
Chicken thighs are a smart buy. Here's why:
* Often sold at half the price of chicken breasts, thighs are a budget stand-in for breasts in most recipes. Count on two thighs for each breast required in a recipe.
* Use boneless thighs just like you would boneless breasts. But because thighs are smaller and thinner, cut baking time by about 10 minutes and sautéing time by about 5 minutes. For express cooking, open thighs and lay flat in the pan.
* Thighs have a little more fat than breasts (one skinless, boneless 3-1/2-oz/100-g thigh has 6 g fat and 170 calories compared with the same amount of breast, which has 2 g fat and 156 calories), so they're juicier and have more flavour.