Smoked Sausage and Onion Stuffed Chicken Breast

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

The Stuffing

1/2 an onion, chopped sauteed with a kielbasa smoked sausage piece about the size of your hand, chopped small. 
1 c bread crumbs
1/4 c Parmesan cheese
1 tsp Trader Joe's 21 seasoning (or other all-purpose mixed seasoning)
1/2 tsp (or about two quick shakes) cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/4 cup water


Sautee onion and sausage together in a medium/hot pan till onion is nicely browned and sausage has those crispy dark bits on the sides, about 5 minutes. 





In a small bowl, mix together onion mixture, bread crumbs, seasoning and melted butter. If necessary, add water, a little bit at a time, until mixture comes together enough that you can squeeze a ball in your hand. If it gets too 'goopy', add a little more bread crumbs and try again. 

The Rolls

2 whole chicken breasts or 4 halves
Pound chicken out thinly. You can use a mallet or a hammer. I like my heavy Chinese cleaver for the job. 

To assemble:
Lay a piece of thinly pounded chicken onto your cutting board. Grab a small handful of stuffing and squeeze it into a ball (or enough to make a ball that sits in the middle of your chicken, see picture below).
Roll firmly, from end to end (I tend to roll Right to Left, but it's not a science). Repeat until you've used up all your chicken.
Optionally, you can secure the rolls with a toothpick. But if you roll them tightly enough and handle gently, you really don't need them. 

The Breading
Now you're gonna need two bowls...

In one bowl:
1 cup panko
1 tsp (or a pinch) of salt

In the other bowl:
2 eggs, whisked together

This is where you multi-task. You don't want to bread your chicken until you're putting it right into the hot pan. This way, your breading doesn't get soggy. Also use one hand for Wet ingredients and one for Dry. That way you don't get HULK HANDS. If you don't know what I'm talking about it... you'll see for yourself if you do it wrong. 
So get your pan going, about medium/high heat. Pour in about a tablespoon of oil and I also like to put in a tablespoon of butter (yum).
Assembly line - with one hand, carefully place the chicken rolls into the egg and roll gently to cover.
With the other hand, roll the chicken into the panko until its completely covered.
Drop the chicken into the hot pan, Seam Side Down! This way, your seam will sear together and you don't have to worry about your rolls falling apart (See? Told you you don't need toothpicks). 
Repeat with each piece.


Cook them until the crust on the outside gets a nice brown color, about 5 minutes per side. You aren't fully cooking the chicken yet, just getting some color and sealing your seams.

Carefully scoop them out of your pan with a couple of forks or a spatula. Place them into an oven safe dish and bake about 25-30 minutes until chicken is cooked through. You can poke in a thermometer to see if they are about 165 degrees inside, OR, just slice into one - it should be totally white, with no pink. 

Take them out of the dish and place on a cutting board. Let rest/cool for 5-10 minutes, then slice them (diagonally, if you wanna be fancy). 

Serve with corn on the cobb and green beans, or what have you.

Tip: Bake your corn, still in its husk, on the oven rack while the chicken is cooking. They should both be done about the same time. To check corn, peel the husk back and squeeze one of the kernels, if its soft, its done, if its crunchy let it cook a bit longer.