Recipe - Chicken Breasts Stuffed With Garlic Ginger Ham

6 Boneless chicken breasts
Salt & fresh ground pepper
3 tablespoon Lemon juice
One half pound Ham; finely chopped
(about one cup)
2 To 3 garlic clove
peeled & finely chopped
2 tablespoon Fresh ginger
peeled & finely chopped
4 tablespoon Fresh tarragon; chopped
(or preserved in vinegar)
1 lg Lemon; chopped zest of
Lemon juice or white wine
Butter
Vegetable mirepoix
1 cup Chicken stock
1 cup Whipping cream
Salt and pepper; to taste

To prepare chicken breasts, place between sheets of waxed paper. Gently
pound with a mallet until flat and tender. Sprinkle each with salt, pepper
and lemon juice. Keep covered in refrigerator.

To make stuffing, combine ham, garlic, ginger, half the tarragon and about
2/3 of the lemon zest in a bowl, blending well. Add a dash of lemon juice
or wine to moisten.

To stuff breasts, place equal amounts of filling on center of each. Bring
sides up to encase filling, shaping with your hands into a round package
and tucking in ends to seal. Greasy the shiny side of six, footlong strips
of foil, about 2 inches wide. Encircle each breast with foil, greased side
in, pulling tightly so that foil wraps around breast. (This retains shape
during baking.) Fold over edge on top to secure foil. Brush tops of
chicken with butter. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and a little tarragon. Can
be refrigerated, covered at this point, if baking is to be done several
hours later.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Place the vegetable mirepoix in bottom of a large
baking dish. Place chicken breasts on top of vegetables. Pour enough wine
around bottom of pan just to cover mirepoix. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, then
turn heat down to 350 degrees. Baste chicken. Cover pan loosely with foil
and bake another 15 minutes or until chicken breasts are done but still
moist inside. Remove foil covering from pan; turn broiler on to brown
chicken tops, about 2 minutes.

Remove pan from oven. Place chicken on heated platter and keep warm;
carefully remove foil strips. Meanwhile, remove and discard mirepoix
vegetables from roasting pan. Place pan on top of stove. Remove any surface
fat and bring to a boil. Add chicken stock and cream and reduce over high
heat, stirring until of desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings.

To serve, garnish chicken breasts with remaining lemon zest and tarragon.
Place a little sauce on a heated plate, then place chicken breast on top.

Good served with ricestuffed tomatoes.

Serves 4 to 6, depending upon size of chicken breasts.

Note: Mirepoix means aromatic vegetables (carrot, celery and onion)
chopped and placed in the bottom of a roasting pan).

Most of this dish can be prepared in advance.

From Nancy Enright's Canadian Herb Cookbook. By Nancy Enright. Toronto:
James Lorimer & Company Publishers, 1985. Pp. 5657. ISBN 0888627882.
Posted by Cathy Harned.

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini