A New Year's Day Tradition - Chicken Kiev

I guess our traditions are so multicultural because our family is so multicultural (and I love to cook all different kinds of ethnic foods!). On Christmas Eve, I always make Italian Wedding Soup and on New Year's Day, I always make Chicken Kiev (Russian). I have no Italian or Russian in my heritage - I just like their food!

So, I thought I would start out the new year by sharing my Chicken Kiev recipe. It is mostly in my head since I no longer have a printed recipe, so I will share the measurements to the best of my ability.

You will need one chicken breast per person, boneless and skinless, plus:

Stick of butter
Green onions, chopped
Parsley or Cilantro, chopped
3 eggs, beaten with some water
1/2 cup all purpose flour
Pepper
Dill Weed
Garlic Powder
1 cup bread crumbs
Oil

You will need to pound/flatten out the chicken breasts to about 1/2 inch thick, using a skillet or a mallet. I prefer the skillet because it doesn't massacre the meat as much. Then place an 1/8 of a stick up butter (cut in half longways, turn, then cut again longways, then cut those long sticks in half), 1 teaspoon of chopped green onions and 1 teaspoon of parsley or cilantro in the middle of the chicken breast. Begin rolling up, tucking in the sides, until you have a nice chicken roll. You may want to use toothpicks to hold it together.

Mix the pepper, garlic powder and dill weed into the flour. Then with your flour mixture on a plate and your breadcrumbs on another plate, begin by rolling each chicken roll into the flour mixture. Then dip into the egg mixture and roll in the bread crumbs. You can either fry right away, or you can place into the refrigerator for about 30 minutes while you get everything else ready. That way you can clean up the messy stuff before you prepare your other dishes.

When you are ready to fry, you need at least 1 1/2 inches of oil (more is ok) in a pan to reach about 360 degrees. Place a few of the chicken rolls into the oil. Cook at least 5 minutes and then turn over for another 5 minutes. You may need to cook longer depending on the thickness of your chicken. You need to cook until they are done all the way through. Sometimes I pop them into the microwave for a few minutes after frying to just make sure they are cooked through. You don't want to pierce them and let all the butter out, so be careful. Use just one as your test subject.

When you are ready to serve, serve over noodles or rice. When you cut into the Chicken Kiev, the melted butter will pour out onto your noodles or rice and make a rich and yummy dish!

Enjoy whatever meals are your family traditions this new year!