Recipe: Chicken with Red Currant Sauce (Sensational Version)

October 2, 2009 by Simple or Sensational
Filed under Entrees/Main Courses

I am going to come clean here, this recipe started out as a duck salad. I have come love duck in recent years, from Peking to confit, I am an unabashed fan. Up until I developed this recipe I believed that there was no food that could not be adapted to have a regular place in a low fat, low calorie eating plan and for me this does still mostly hold true. But with duck there are two issues. Firstly, even when you remove the skin and fat from duck you end up with almost 5 grams of fat for 4 oz of breast meat. As a comparison, chicken has 1.4 g of fat per 4 oz of meat. Secondly, and probably more pertinent, why would anyone consider eating duck without its lovely crispy skin? The fat in duck stops you from serving a dried out piece or shoe leather, but it unfortunately also means almost 17 grams of fat per 4 oz serving. So here’s the compromise. The chicken dish below is lovely, and won’t deliver the thigh expanding blow that duck would if eaten regularly. By no means is this an insipid version of the original duck salad. The sauce is rich and flavourful and when combined with crisp vegetables and cilantro takes and chicken to new heights.

For what it’s worth my advice is this. Save the duck for a lovely restaurant, with a great bottle of wine and congratulate yourself for eating well often enough that you can splurge and have the skin. That my friends, is the best was to ensure that duck still has a place in your healthy eating plan.

Ingredients

4 4 oz chicken breasts (skinless, boneless)
1 clove of garlic, crushed
3 tablespoons lite soy sauce
3 tablespoons dry sherry
1/4 cup red current jelly
1/4 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1/2 cup finely chopped red peppers
1/4 cup bean shoots
1/4 red onion, finely sliced
1 handful of salad greens (any lettuce you like really)

Instructions

Work with me here, this sounds complicated, but it really isn’t once you get the idea. Remove the tenderloin from each of the chicken breasts. Lightly sauté the garlic in a non stick pan (use oil spray if you need to). Put the tenderloins and the garlic in a food processor and process until finely ground. Place a piece of plastic wrap on a flat surface and put the four chicken breasts on the wrap, so that they form a basic square shape, (you may need to flatten them a little first). Put the ground chicken in the centre and then, using the plastic wrap to help you roll the chicken up until you are left with a sausage shape with the processed chicken in the middle to hold it together. Tie the ends of the plastic warp and refrigerate for at least two hours.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Remove the chicken from the fridge and remove the plastic wrap. Tie the chicken with kitchen string to avoid it splitting when cooking. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken is 165 degrees.
In the mean time add the soy, sherry, vinegar and jelly to a small sauce pan and simmer gently until it thickens, about five minutes.
To serve arrange the salad green on a plate.
Slice the chicken into one inch pieces and dip in the sauce before arranging on top if the greens, top with the remaining vegetables and a little more sauce.

(Serves 4)

Per Serve