Chicken Breasts with Crawfish Stuffing
Plump chicken breasts stuffed with artichoke hearts and crawfish tails get first class treatment on the grill with butter brushing. Lemon-butter sauce studded with crabmeat and crawfish tails — plus the kick of Louisiana’s favorite seasoning, cayenne pepper — accompanies the golden brown breasts at the table.
Ingredients
- Onion - 1 small, minced
- Butter - 1/4 pound (1 stick)
- All-Purpose Flour - 1/2 cup
- Artichoke Hearts - one, 13-3/4 can, drained and chopped (reserve juice)
- Half-and-half - 1 to 2 cups
- Crawfish Tails - 1 pound (alt. shrimp or crabmeat)
- Chicken base or Extract - 1 tablespoon
- Broccoli - 1-1/2 cups, chopped, cooked
- Freshly ground white pepper - 1 tablespoon
- Salt - 1 teaspoon
- MSG - 1 teaspoon
- Chicken Breasts - 8 whole, boneless
- Melted butter for basting
- Seafood Lemon-Butter Sauce
- Butter - 1/2 pound (2 sticks)
- Worcestershire sauce - 4 tablespoons
- Lump Crabmeat - 1 pound
- Crawfish Tails - 1 pound, cooked
- Lemon Juice - 1 teaspoon
- Cayenne Pepper - 2 teaspoons
- Salt - 1 teaspoon
- MSG - 1 teaspoon
Instructions
In a large, heavy-bottomed pan, saute the onion in the butter; when translucent, stir in the flour. Add the artichoke juice and about 1/2 cup half-and-half to the flour mixture. Complete the stuffing with the crawfish tails, chicken base, broccoli, and artichoke hearts. Add more half-and-half as needed to create a consistency which is thick but not dry. Season with pepper, salt, and MSG. Cover and cook 15 to 20 minutes over low heat, stirring frequently. Transfer the stuffing to a covered container and refrigerate several hours, or overnight.
Light a charcoal fire. Spread the whole chicken breasts, skin side down, on a work surface. Brush with melted butter, then place about 3 ounces of stuffing in the center of each breast. Wrap the meat around the stuffing, tucking the ends under to form a neat package. Secure with toothpicks. Brush the outside of the breast with melted butter. When the coals are covered with light ash and hot, spread them in the fire pit and place the chicken breasts, tucked edges under, on the grill over the fire. Cook until the chicken breasts have browned and the meat is tender, about 15 to 20 minutes on a side depending on the heat of the coals.
To prepare the lemon-butter sauce: Melt the butter over low heat. Add the Worcestershire sauce, seafood, lemon juice, and seasonings. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, while the chicken is cooking.
To serve: Place a breast on each serving plate, folded edges down. Drizzle each breast with lemon-butter sauce.
