For the special Valentine’s Day dinner we propose and a unique Mediterranean Diet culinary recipe: Chicken filled with mushrooms, fennel and pomegranate. This exquisite Mediterranean diet recipe has all the healthy ingredients of the Mediterranean diet, including the unique Mediterranean culinary herb, the fennel, and one of the healthiest Mediterranean fruits, the pomegranate. In this recipe we will also use a Med diet basic component, the Bulgur pilaf. The use of the healthy and beneficial olive oil is a must in every Mediterranean diet.
Fennel is a slightly sweet and crunchy Mediterranean culinary herb that adds pleasant, aromatic and unique taste and flavor to the Mediterranean diet foods. It has antioxidant properties and it is very popular in the Italian cuisine, a subset of the Mediterranean diet cuisine.
The pomegranate is considered to be the fruit of prosperity and fertility by many Mediterranean civilizations. The fruit seeds are rich in vitamin C, contain phytonutrients and beneficial tannins. It add a pleasant gentle sweet taste the Mediterranean foods.
It serves adequately 2 persons.
Ingredients
4 medium size chicken fillets with their skin
3 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion finely chopped
6 medium sized mushrooms cut in slices
2 tsp finely chopped fennel
2tbsp flour
1 cup of dry white wine
1 tbsp honey
1 cup of chicken broth
½ cup of pomegranate seeds
Salt and pepper
Bulgur pilaf prepared separately with pomegranate seeds and served with some fennel stalks with feathery green leaves used for decoration
Execution
Warm the 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a frying pan and on a light fire sauté lightly the onion and mushrooms. Put the salt and pepper and one of the two spoons of the finely chopped fennel. Remove them from the fire. Preheat the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cut open the fillets and without separating the two parts beat them a little so that they would have the same thickness. Put salt and pepper. Put the mushrooms and fold them, like you would make a sandwich. You can use wooden toothpicks to keep the two parts together and then you flour the chicken. You then sauté both sides of the chicken fillets in the frying pan using the remaining of the olive oil. Remove the fillets and place them in an oven pan.
Mix in a bowl the wine, the honey and the chicken broth and pour the mixture over the chicken. Cover the chicken with aluminum foil and cook in the oven for about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven when you deem right for your taste.
Cut the fillets in slices and serve on top of the bulgur pilaf with pomegranate. You then pour on top the sauce from the oven pan and decorate around the chicken with pomegranate seeds and the remaining of the fennel. Decorate the dish with fresh stalks of fennel.
Enjoy this unique Mediterranean culinary recipe and have a wonderful and erotic Valentine’s Day and do not forget to accompany your dinner with a fine red dry wine.
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