Feeding Maddie from 1,240 Miles Away: Chicken Wellington

A recipe passed down from Mom!

This is a kind of time-intensive recipe, but not technically hard to do. Just give yourself plenty of time before you planning on serving, and prep ALL your food before cooking- it makes things 10 times easier.

Ingredients:
1 package Frozen puff pastry sheets
Dried thyme
Salt and Pepper
8 boneless skinless chicken breast cutlets
5 tbs butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
1/4 lbs mushrooms, finely chopped
Dried parsley (or, if you want to get fancy, 2 tbs chopped fresh parsley)
1 package Cream Cheese
Dijon mustard
Egg wash (an egg and water mixed together- optional)

Prep work: Dice the onion and mushrooms, and put together in a bowl. Take a small bowl and combine the spices. Cut up the chicken, and set out a bowl for the cooked chicken.

1. Set out the frozen pastry sheets to thaw and the cream cheese to soften to room temp. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Cut chicken into smaller pieces, and sprinkle with thyme, pepper, and salt. I combine the thyme, pepper and salt in a small bowl, then roll the pieces of chicken in it to thoroughly coat. You'll end up using a large part of the thyme, but the more spices, the better the flavor!

3. Heat 3 tbs butter in a skillet, add chicken pieces and brown. Remove chicken to a bowl, and add the remaining butter to the same pan. Heat, and saute the onions and mushrooms until tender (you'll see the color change and juices begin to collect). Stir in parsley, turn off heat, and let cool while you prepare the pastry.

4. On a lightly floured surface, roll each puff pastry sheet (it is easiest to do one at a time) to a 14 in. square. Cut each into 6 squares.

5. Mix the cream cheese and dijon together in a bowl. The recipe calls for 3 oz cream cheese and 2 tbs dijon mustard, but I find I usually use about 6 oz (from an 8 oz package). It is best to add in the dijon gradually to taste; I prefer it to taste pretty tangy, so usually end up using more like 4 tbs of mustard, but it is a personal preference.

6. Place chicken and mushroom/onion mix in center of each square of pastry. Add a spoonful of the dijon mix on top. Fold the pastry over and press together. Brush tops with egg wash if desired (it mainly serves to give the pastry a better color when it bakes).