Chicken Wellington

Chicken Wellington

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Start with leftover cooked chicken or pick up a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from the market and add mushrooms, sweet onions, cream cheese, and herbs. Frozen puff pastry wraps it all up for an eye-pleasing and tasty presentation.

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes

Ingredients:
•1 sheet (half a 17-1/4-ounce package) frozen puff pastry sheet
•2 Tbsp butter
•1/2 cup diced sweet onions
•4 ounces coarse-chopped mushrooms
•2 garlic cloves, pressed
•Salt and fresh-ground black pepper, to taste
•2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
•4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
•1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
•1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves, crushed
•1/2 tsp rubbed sage (or 1/4 tsp ground sage)
•2 cups roughly torn chunks of cooked rotisserie chicken or leftover cooked chicken breasts, chilled
•1 large egg, beaten with 1 tsp water for an egg wash

Preparation:

Let puff pastry thaw while you make the filling. Preheat oven to 400 F.

Melt butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add sweet onions, mushrooms, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Saute until sweet onions are translucent and the mushroom liquid has evaporated. Stir in parsley and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Mix cream cheese, Dijon mustard, thyme, and sage until combined. Set aside.

Roll out thawed puff pastry on a lightly floured surface into a 14-inch square. (Rolling between two sheets of plastic wrap makes easy work of this task.) Cut the square into 4 equal 7-inch squares.

To assemble, divide cream cheese mixture equally amongst the squares, then top with mushroom mixture, and chilled chicken chunks or strips. Brush edges of the puff pastry squares with egg wash. Bring corners of the pastry square to the center, sealing all edges to contain the filling. Place seam-side down on an ungreased baking sheet and brush with egg wash.

Bake chicken Wellington bundles for 25 minutes until golden brown. Serve with steamed broccoli.

Note: Do not use raw chicken for this recipe. There will be insufficient time to thoroughly cook the chicken. Be sure to use chilled cooked chicken.

Yield: 4 servings

Bill & Jackie's