Freezer to Oven Chicken Kiev

Our Ingredients:
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Panko bread crumbs
One egg
Compound butter (see May 28 post)
Butter (on serving day)

Place the chicken breasts one at a time in a plastic bag and pound to thin them to about 1/2" thickness (I have this pounder thingamabob but the bottom of a heavy pot works fine).

You want them to become quite flat and thin ... this one needed to be pounded a little bit more.

Cut 1 slice of the compound butter for each breast portion and place in the center of the meat.

Fold the sides over the butter ...

fold one end over ...

then the other and secure with a toothpick.

Repeat with all breast portions.

Break the egg into a wide bowl and beat with a fork.  Place the panko crumbs in another wide bowl.  Dip the breast portions into the egg wash and then roll in the crumbs.

Place the breasts in a freezer proof container, cover and freeze overnight.

The rest of the compound butter can be stored in the freezer for another use.

The next day the breasts were removed from the pan, double bagged in freezer bags and returned to the freezer.

On serving day preheat the oven to 350 degrees, place the desired number of breast portions in a pan and bake (still frozen; no need to thaw) in the oven for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes place a blob of butter on the breast portions, return to the oven and turn the heat up to 425 degrees.  Bake for an additional 20 minutes.

To serve remove the toothpicks and cut the breast portion in half.  I like to serve this with steamed new potatoes and a side salad.

Enjoy!