Day 12: Skin of the Pig

Steve:  I really do believe that Heather wants to throw me a curveball that I will be unable to use, because today's ingredient is certainly out there.  Now, I do think it can be used in several different ways, because you can use it like you would any other potato chip.  I have heard of using potato chips in savory dinner type dishes before so I thought of something I could do that with and away we go.

Day 12 Ingredient:  Pork Rinds

AH yes, the snack of the Atkins dieting family.  With no carbs, people all over the world use this as an excuse to eat "healthier" while still getting their salty, crunchy fix.  People who love them, love them a lot and people who don't...well they just don't know what they are missing.  It's like potato chip bacon.  How can that be wrong?

I have gone through the Atkins phase myself and pork rinds with pimento cheese spread used to be one of my favorites.  I have heard about people putting melted butter and cinnamon sugar on them to have a sweet dessert too.  Not sure I would try that.

My approach to Pork Rinds was to use the smoky pork flavor and the salt component in order to enhance my dish.  I was originally thinking about frying the dish, but that isn't very healthy now is it.  Instead I went in a different direction.

Day 12 Ingredients:

2 cups of Crushed Pork Rinds (consistency of panko bread crumbs)
4 Chicken Breast Cutlets
4 Turkey Sausage Links
2 TBSP Cream Cheese
1 Egg
1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
4 Cups Chicken Broth
1 Small Can Tomato Paste
1 TBSP Chili Powder
2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

Instructions:

1.  Brown sausage on medium heat until done on all sides.  Lay chicken on cutting board and pound until 1/8 inch thick if they are not thin enough already.

2.  Spread 1/2 TBSP on Cream cheese on each chicken breast.  place sausage link on chicken and roll breast.

3 Create Egg wash by combining egg and 1 TBSP water and mixing.  Brush all sides of chicken breast with egg wash

4.  Place crushed Pork Rinds in 1 gallon zip lock bag and add 1 chicken breast at a time to the bag to coat the breasts.  Put all four breasts in oven safe baking dish and set in refrigerator for at least one hour.

5.  While Chicken is chilling, combine Chicken Broth, Tomato Paste and spices in large pot over high heat.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes.

6.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Take chicken out of fridge and add 1 cup of sauce to the top of the chicken.  Top with cheddar cheese and bake for 30-35 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked.  Serve immediately.

Day 12 Meal:  Tur-Chick-Pig with Rice

Tur-Chick-Pig is a take on Tur-Duc-En which is a hen stuffed in a duck which is stuffed in a turkey.  I did turkey sausage stuffed in a chicken breast coated with pig skin.  Ok, not that clever, but I like it.  The rice is brown rice cooked using the tomato sauce above as the cooking liquid.  Talk about a better way to eat brown rice.

I like this dish a lot and will probably tinker with different ways to make it better, but for the most part, the best way to eat chicken is stuffed with something else, so yum.

Heather:
Taste-3.5 stars: Creativity-4.5 stars

Interesting dish. Although I have to admit I did figure he would use the pork rinds as some sort of breading. He gets the high creativity marks for his Tur-Chick-Pig creation. I could taste the pork in my first couple bites, but I think most of the breading had fallen off so I didn't get as much as I would have liked considering I'm one of those that love pork rinds.  I don't think I really cared for the sausage inside the chicken. Maybe that's just my opinion because it sounds like Steve loved it. The rice was good, especially since it was brown rice. Lots of flavor. I love when he makes rice with flavored broth instead of water. Overall, it was good. I'm interested to see how he will alter it in the future.