Food Features: Experimental Cooking: Feta and Pepper Stuffed Chicken

Creative Cooking:  Feta & Pepper Stuffed
Chicken Thighs

I've lately been in a New York state of mind, remembering the lovely times living in New York (forgetting, of course, the not so fun things like humidity and long subway rides).  One thing I loved was the Greek chicken kebabs from the street vendors in Astoria.  I've never been able to get the seasoning right, but it inspired me to do a little Greek-inspired stuffed chicken adventure.

The ingredients were 6 chicken thigh filets, about 1/2 cup of feta cheese (1/2 a pack), one red pepper, chopped finely, half an onion, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, juice from half a lemon and about 2 tablespoons of pre-chopped garlic (yes, I'm that lazy).   Everything got mixed together in a bowl and I added salt, pepper and about 1 teaspoon each of dried parsley and basil.

"Filling" the Chicken With the Mixture

I "filled" each filet with the stuffing, wrapped them closed as much as possible and stuck them together on the pan.  After all were done, I drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled them with salt and more garlic and cooked them for about 25 mins at 160 C (about 320 F).  When they looked cooked through, I gave them another 5 minutes under the broiler/grill to give them a little more color.


THE RESULT
This was FANTASTIC.  The tanginess of the feta and lemon juice really came through, setting off the savory meat and the sweetness of the pepper.  The chicken was juicy and moist still. In serving I topped the chicken with the bits of pepper and feta that had fallen out in cooking as well as a little of the juice.  I was mopping up the sauce with my bits of broccoli.  Definitely a winner!