Chicken Pillows & Classic Wedge w/Candied Pecans and Balsamic Glaze

In the words of Brittney, spoken after her first bite at lunch today, “I’m not gonna lie to you … this is delicious.”

This one takes a little time, but it’s completely worth it. You should see the pile of scraped-clean plates in my kitchen right now. The chicken pillows are light, airy and cheesy, surrounded by a satisfyingly crunchy crescent shell. There’s nothing at all to either the gravy or the classic wedge salad (which is similar to Outback’s). Even the balsamic reduction is so simple it practically makes itself. You should probably make this tonight.

Chicken Pillows

Filling:

• 3 medium chicken breasts, boiled till cooked through
• 1 pkg cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 scoop chicken bouillon and a little water
• 3 shakes Tabasco
• 2 TBSP TJ’s red pepper, eggplant and garlic spread (optional)

Shell:

• 2 pkg crescent rolls
• 1 cube butter, melted
• about 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

Gravy:

• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 pkg chicken gravy
• 1 cup water

Classic Wedge Salad

• iceberg lettuce, enough so that everyone has a healthy wedge
• balsamic vinegar
• cherry tomatoes
• diced red onion
• bacon — one slice per person
• 1 cup pecans
• 3 TBSP sugar
• blue cheese dressing

Chop your cooked, cooled chicken …

… and place in mixer along with the cream cheese and sour cream.

Chop the onion and garlic and add to mix.

Mix a scoop of chicken bouillon with just enough water to blend it up a bit and add to mixture along with the seasonings and Tabasco.

I had been hoping to find a can of green chilis in the pantry, but the can I knew I had in there apparently grew legs and escaped in the night. However, I did find this jar of spread I picked up at Trader Joe’s on my last visit:

This reminds me of something we have every time we’re in Israel. It’s so, so good spread on pitas. I figured it couldn’t hurt to add a TBSP or two. I was right. 🙂 But if you don’t have that, see if my can of green chilis showed up in your pantry. Feel free to use it if it’s there.

Take one of the cans of crescent dough and separate two triangles from the rest. Pinch the seam well to blend.

Using a heaping 1/4 cup measure, center the filling in the middle of the dough.

Lift the long sides up first …

… then lift the short ends and secure, pinching all openings so none of that chickeny deliciousness oozes out while baking.

Next, melt a cube of butter in one bowl and pour some bread crumbs in the other.

Dip each chicken pillow in the butter, then roll in breadcrumbs. Place on an oiled baking sheet …

… and bake about 25 minutes in a 350 oven (or till it looks ready to you).

To make the gravy, mix the soup, gravy mix and water together in a pan and heat till bubbly.

To make the salad:

Start your balsamic reduction. Just pour about 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar in a saucepan and simmer till reduced to about 1/3 of what you started with. You’ll know it’s ready when it coats the back of a spoon like this:

Clean the outside of a head of iceberg lettuce, core it (you can do this easily by smacking the core hard against your counter and twisting it off) and chop into wedges. We had five for lunch, so I chopped mine accordingly.

To make the candied pecans, start by chopping about 1 cup of nuts (not too fine):

Place in a dry pan with 3 TBSP sugar. Heat and stir till sugar melts and glazes pecans. Don’t walk away … this happens pretty quickly.

To assemble the salad: Place wedge on plate. Top with a spoonful of the balsamic reduction, a handful of candied pecans, some crumbled bacon, chopped red onion, halved cherry tomatoes, and a final drizzle of blue cheese dressing.

Serve chicken pillows on a bed of rice and top with gravy.