Herbed Chicken En Croute

Fancy, huh?

It is.

Or at least, it looks fancy.

And it definitely sounds fancy.

I mean we are talking impress your guests, get that girl to fall in love with you or get your boyfriend to propose fancy.

Yeah, it's that good.

So take my advice and RUN, don't walk, RUN to the store.

Or you know what, take a car.

That would be much faster.

Oh so I guess you are wondering what this deliciousness is, right? And you probably might be wondering what the heck "en croute" means... Well basically it is French for "in a crust".

One of my favorite things in the world is Brie En Croute... Which is where you take a delicious wheel of Brie cheese and wrap it in a puff pastry (and if you are like me you also slather some peppered jelly or raspberry jalapeño compote before the pastry) then bake it until it is fluffy and golden and delicious. So good...

SO, I figured why not give that same flaky deliciousness to some boring old chicken...

And since feeding my kid vegetables turns into WWIII, I figured I would sneak some of those in there too...

And why not top it all off with some cheese. Swiss cheese, and some herbed spread cheese to. That oughtta do it...

And it did. Oh it SO did.

Here is how you can do it, too!

Herbed Chicken En Croute

1 sheet puff pastry
2 chicken breasts (cut in half so they are about 3-4 inches long and 3 inches wide)
salt and pepper
some butter
a bunch fresh spinach
a container of herbed cheese (i got the allouette stuff...)
2 slices swiss cheese
1 egg

Start about an hour and a half or so before you want to serve dinner. Sprinkle your chicken with salt and pepper. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium high heat and cook the chicken until nice and golden brown (and mostly cooked all the way through). Then put on a plate and cover with foil and let rest in the fridge until you need them.

Then add the spinach (wash first and remove stems.. or if you are like me just rip the leafy green part off of the bunch and rinse and pat it dry) to the skillet with a little more butter. Saute until it wilts and turns deep green... You will know, don't worry. Set aside.

About 30 minutes before you want to serve dinner, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Flour your work surface lightly and roll out the sheet of puff pastry until it is big enough to cut in to 4 good sized squares.

Place one half of a slice of Swiss cheese on each square, followed by a generous heap of herbed cheese, then by 1/4 of the spinach. Place one chicken breast on top of each square.

Beat the egg with a splash of water, then brush the edges of each pastry with the mixture. Bring the ends of the pastry to the center and press until sealed. Next place each chicken pastry seam side down on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. I HIGHLY recommend the parchment paper. If you don't have parchment paper, grease the cookie sheet well.

Brush each pastry all over with the remaining egg mixture. Bake for 25 minutes until nice and flaky and golden.


Look at all that juicy, melty, cheesy deliciousness... I was so excited I couldn't even wait to put it on a plate before cutting in to it!

Enjoy your amazingly impressive dinner.... Serve with some crisp white wine, a side salad, and finish the night with this dessert, and you have yourself a superb gourmet meal. Way to go!

You can thank me later.

And oh, you will.... trust me... :)

Happy eating!