Fried Sage and Gruyere Chicken Breasts
Succulent, tasty, deep fall flavors, melty cheese, grill seared char, fried sage, over a rustic fresh apple and pear sauce... let the drooling commence!
Servings 4
Ingredients
Brined Chicken Breasts
- 3 each boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 1/2 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 cups water
Fried Sage and Gruyere Stuffing
- 4 oz gruyere cheese, sliced
- 12 each sage leaves
- 3 tbsp olive oil
Rustic Apple Pear Sauce
- 1 each apple
- 1 each pear
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 3 each sage leaves, chopped
Instructions
Brined Chicken Breasts
- Combine the water, salt and sugar in a bowl and stir until salt and sugar are completely dissolved.
- Trim each chicken breast and cut in half width-wise. Butterfly each half chicken breast (lay flat on a cutting board and slice almost all the way through, parallel with the cutting board, leaving the last 1/4 inch or so still intact). This way you can open them up and add the gruyere and sage to the middle later.
- Add chicken breasts to a container that can be covered, pour brine mixture over top, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours but up to overnight.
Fried Sage and Gruyere Stuffing
- Heat a smaller pan or skillet over medium heat, add olive oil. Add sage leaves and fry until crackling has stopped, about 30 seconds. May need to do in sets. Remove sage leaves to a paper towel and let drain, reserve half for later.
- Cut gruyere into thin slices.
- Cut 6 pieces of kitchen twine long enough to truss the chicken breasts like a present or at least a couple times around and tie shut.
- Remove chicken breasts from refrigerator and drain brine away.
- Take one butterflied half chicken breast and open flat on a cutting board or other surface. Add some cheese to the inside of the butterflied area, add a sage leaf, close flap, and tie shut like a present with some kitchen twine. Note: Most of mine worked well wrapping around the middle, crossing in the middle and then perpendicular to the original wrap, flipping and tying on the other side, just like a present. A couple however didn't work that way so I ended up just wrapping them twice around the same direction to hold shut.
- Place chicken breast in your sous-vide bag(s) or a large ziplock bag. I drizzled a tiny bit of olive oil over mine at this point.
Sous-vide Chicken Breasts
- Set your sous-vide machine to your desired temperature and time for chicken breasts and cook. Your desired doneness may vary from mine but I chose 149 degrees for 2 hours.
Rustic Apple Pear Sauce
- Core and chop apple and pear into small chunks. Add to a pan sprinkled with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Stir to combine.
- Heat over medium low heat, stirring frequently until enough moisture comes out to start bubbling a bit on the bottom, add the chopped sage leaves, stir in and turn the heat down to a simmer.
- Let simmer, stirring occasionally until all the chunks are nice and tender soft and will smash when pressed with the back of a spoon, about 15 minutes.
Grill Seared Finish
- Get your grill nice and hot, you are really only going to sear these for a minute each side to get browned.
- Once the chicken is finished cooking remove from the water and let sit on paper towels to dry a little and cool down, about 5 minutes.
- Snip and remove the kitchen twine now that the packets are cooked together.
- Take chicken to the grill and brown each side about 1 - 2 minutes a side.
- Spread the apple pear sauce on a plate, add the seared chicken breasts, and top each with a fried sage leaf. Enjoy!
Notes
Okay, this one sounds like a lot of work but it is really just a series of easy steps. I chose to cook it this way to be an easy hot protein dish when I was cooking for a big group at my house. So, the brining ahead is super simple, sous-vide can be started before anyone arrives, and all you have to do is rewarm the apple pear sauce, and sear the chicken and you'll have everyone fawning over the delicious pockets of sage and gruyere chicken! Such a great fall meal.