Stuffed Chicken Medallions w/Mustard Green & Quinoa Salad

This sounds like an elaborate menu but it is surprisingly simple yet with a gourmet flair.  The best cut of chicken for this is boneless thighs, skin on.  If you have bone-in thighs it is not that much work to remove the one central bone.  You can use boneless breasts, but I am not a fan of this.  (What you would do, however, is simply cut a slit of a pocket in the breast and stuff the pocket.)

For the stuffing, I used fresh spinach and chopped onions and garlic, and fresh basil.  Start by sautéing the onions and garlic on low, and then add the spinach and cook it down to get most of the moisture out.  I went with a fairly heavy seasoning because there will not be a lot of stuffing in each medallion.

When the stuffing is ready put a dollop in the center of each thigh, and roll it up and hold it with either string or toothpicks.  I like string because it is difficult to turn them in a pan with toothpicks.

Turn the oven on to 400°.  Using vegetable oil (because olive oil does not get hot enough) in an oven-proof skillet on the stove top,  brown them well.  They should go from a pale yellowy chicken skin to a near work of art, golden, brown, and delicious.

They should go from a pale yellowy color…

When they are browned all over, put the pan in the oven to finish.  A thermometer inserted in the meat should show 180°.

Remove them when finished cooking and let rest for 5 minutes.

Slice into thick medallions.  It is easier to remove the string after slicing.

Mustard Green & Quinoa Salad

For the salad, I had already cooked quinoa.  If you haven’t had quinoa before, it is a really nice grain for salads.  With a texture similar to fish roe or caviar, it has a flavor something like bulgur.  In fact, I think you could substitute it for bulgur, or cous cous or rice in any recipe.  For this I had fresh mustard greens which I mixed with the cold cooked quinoa.  i made a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, and fresh basil.  I seasoned with salt and pepper and topped with feta cheese.  The pungent mustard greens were a great counterpoint to the rich flavor of the chicken and added bright color.  It was a quick and delicious meal!