Chicken Florentine with Spring Vegetable and Double Potato Hash and Red Wine Demi-Glace

Directions

Chicken Florentine:

Ingredients

• 1 pound fresh spinach, soaked and washed well
• 8 (6-ounce) boneless chicken breasts, skin on
• 1 ounce blue cheese
• 2 tablespoons ricotta cheese
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon white wine
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Vegetable/Potato Hash:

• 1 pound thin asparagus, trimmed, blanched and cut into 1/4 to 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup grapeseed oil
• 1 large red onion, diced
• 2 small zucchini, diced into 1/4 to 1/2-inch pieces (place diced zucchini on paper towel to absorb moisture)
• 1/2 pound white potatoes, diced into 1/4 to 1/2-inch pieces (place diced potatoes on paper towel to absorb moisture)
• 1/2 pound sweet potatoes, diced into 1/4 to 1/2-inch pieces (place diced potatoes on paper towel to absorb moisture)
• 2 ounces blue cheese

Demi-Glace:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 pint veal stock

Tapenade:

• 1/4 cup kalamata olives
• 1/4 cup pickled plums (recommended: Umeboshi)
• 1/8 cup olive oil
• 2 ounces blue cheese
• 3 tablespoons chopped parsley
• Salt and pepper

For the Chicken:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Steam spinach and let cool. Lay a long piece of plastic wrap over your cutting board and tuck it underneath the sides of the board. The chicken breasts should be placed on the covered cutting board, skin side down, with enough space between them so they can lay flat after you butterfly them. To make the butterfly cut, carefully slice open (without slicing the chicken all the way through) and spread the flesh of the chicken out so you will be able to pound it out into a single thin piece on which you will place stuffing and then roll up. Season the breasts with salt and pepper. Then put another length of plastic wrap over the seasoned chicken breasts and flatten with meat mallet to integrate the seasoning into the chicken. *Cook's Note: Covering the chicken with the plastic will also keep the mess down when you pound with the meat mallet.

Pound chicken thin and remove plastic. In a small mixing bowl, mix together, blue cheese, ricotta cheese, Parmesan, lemon zest and white wine. Place equal amounts of the cheese mixture on each breast, followed by equal amounts of the steamed spinach. Fold in each end and roll tightly, securing with toothpicks as needed, and placing on a baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper and brush with remaining olive oil. Place in the oven (leaving an oven rack available for the hash) and roast for 45 to 50 minutes, or until internal temperature registers 165 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. Remove stuffed chicken from oven and allow to rest.

For the tapenade:

Finely chop olives and plums and combine with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add 2 ounces of blue cheese and parsley, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

For the Hash:

In a large oven-safe skillet, add half the oil (1/4 cup) and warm the pan over medium low heat. Add the pieces of blanched asparagus and diced onion, and saute together for about 5 minutes until the asparagus feels cooked to the bite. Remove from heat and set aside. In a large bowl toss the zucchini, diced white potatoes and diced sweet potatoes with the remaining 1/4 cup of oil and season them with salt and pepper. Get a nice even coating of oil on the zucchini and potatoes and place them onto a large roasting tray. Top with the asparagus and onion mixture and place in the oven for 35 to 45 minutes.

For the Demi-Glace:

Prepare demi-glace while the chicken and hash are in the oven, by melting the butter over medium heat in a saucepan and sauteing onion until tender. Whisk together cornstarch and red wine to make slurry, and add to onion along with veal stock. Let simmer over medium heat until reduced by 1/3, stirring occasionally.

Once the hash is complete, toss 2 ounces of blue cheese with warm hash mixture and using a 3-inch circle mold or biscuit cutter as a mold, form a circle of the hash in the center of serving plate. Place stuffed chicken on top of hash, and spoon some of the tapenade onto the chicken breast. Drizzle demi-glace over chicken and hash.