Fresh Spring Rolls

We are big fans of finger foods in our house.  My dear husband especially, he loves appetizers (wings, crab buns, and so on).  Being the new year, and since it has been exceptionally sunny so far this winter (an anomaly for us...as beautiful as our valley is, come January we are often buried in valley cloud. Take these gloriously bright and sunny days and add in the new year, when we all try to "do better" in one way or another, I was inspired to make something new for a snack for us - one on the fresh, springlike, healthy side.

Enter spring rolls.  And I don't mean the deep fried kind that you find at restaurants or in the frozen-food section at the grocery store.  These are "my style"...with fresh vegetables, fresh taste, and a little bit of zip from one of my favourites, feta.  I've never made any sort of fresh spring roll before, so I winged it based on what I had in my kitchen (except the rice paper, I did have to go buy that).  Here is what I did to put them together.

Fresh Spring Rolls

Chicken (thigh or breast - I used boneless thighs)
Rice paper - I used the larger ones (22 cm)
Rice vermicelli
Fresh spinach
Carrots
Cucumber
Red pepper
Feta cheese - I use TreStelle
Tzatziki (you can make your own, or use store bought - I had store bought on hand, so that's what I used)

Prepare the rice vermicelli noodles - I brought a pot of water to boiling, added in the noodles, cooked for about 3 minutes, strained, rinsed with cold water, and left in the colander in the sink while I prepared everything else.

Poach the chicken, cool and cut into pieces.

While the chicken is cooling, prepare your vegetables. Wash the spinach, remove stems.  I used organic baby spinach.  Wash, peel and julienne your carrots, wash and julienne the cucumbers (I left the peel on for added colour).  Wash and julienne the red pepper.  I set up all of the filling into an assembly line in the following order:  Rice paper, spinach, vermicelli, chicken, feta, tzatziki, carrots, cucumber, red pepper.


Prepare the rice paper, one sheet at a time, by soaking in warm water for 10 seconds, then lay flat on your work surface.  Add each ingredient to the roll - don't overfill!  I made these the same way I make soft tacos - put the ingredients more towards one end of the paper, fold over the sides, and roll it up to seal it all in.

The prep time for the filling takes way longer than the rolling time, and once you get into a rhythm with the rolling, you can burn through making rolls pretty quickly. 

VERDICT:
Quite simply, we inhaled these. So fresh, so good for us.  The tang of the feta and the tzatziki was just so good.  My hubby wanted dip too (appetizer guy!) - but he still enjoyed them just as they were.  We liked them so much that we made them again the next day :-)  These will be great come summer!

Feta Stuffed Chicken

I was in search of some new flavours for our chicken dinner...chicken...can get boring, don't you think?  I need to shake things up from time to time!  A little searching and I found a recipe from Martha Stewart (May 2004) for Chicken with Feta.  Sounded like a good new one to try!  Here is the recipe:

4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
3/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1 teaspoon oregano
Salt & Pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

In a small bowl, combine the feta cheese with the oregano.

Lie your chicken breasts flat on a cutting board, slice into the thicker side of the breast to create a pocket.  Be sure to keep the other side of the breast intact (think - hot dog bun).

Stuff the breasts with the feta mixture.  Don't be afraid to overstuff!

Season the entire chicken breast with salt and pepper (to your taste).

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Cook the chicken until browned on both sides, this will take approximately 6-7 minutes each side.

Cover the skillet and cook for another 5 minutes or so, until the chicken is cooked to 160 degrees (use your meat thermometer).  When you are sure that the chicken is cooked, remove the breasts to a platter and keep them warm (tent them with tin foil).

Using the same skillet, add in your chicken stock, reduce it slightly.  Add in the fresh lemon juice and the butter.  Mix until the butter is fully melted and the sauce starts to thicken.  Once thickened, drizzle the sauce over the chicken and serve immediately.  Enjoy!

VERDICT:
I an a big feta fan, so this was a nice treat for me.  I loved thechange of flavour for the chicken, as did my boys - there were no leftovers!