Chicken Broccoli Braid

This recipe was adapted from that Pampered Chef pyramid scheme that makes the rounds to homes across the nation. That one contained frozen broccoli and precooked chicken.

Ingredients:

1 Package boneless skinless chicken breasts or breast tenders (1-2 lbs)
1 Head broccoli
1 Red bell pepper
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup mayonnaise (none of that miracle whip crap, unless that’s truly your preference)
1 T Olive or Canola Oil. You can also use cooking spray.
1 T Dill, dried or chopped fresh
1 clove garlic, minced
Pepper to taste
2 Packages Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (the foil tubes that explode when you peel the wrapper, containing gooey triangles of uncooked dough)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat. Cut the chicken breasts up into bite sized pieces and sauté in skillet when oil is hot. Cook thoroughly, and until the outsides are golden.
While the chicken is cooking, chop up the broccoli (I often think of that SNL sketch with Dana Carvey back when he was funny, singing “Choppin’ broccoli”) and the red bell pepper. Place these in a large mixing bowl.

In a smaller bowl, measure out 1/2 cut of mayonnaise, and mix in dill, garlic, and pepper to taste.

Let the chicken pieces cool a bit before adding them to the vegetable pieces, then add the cheese and mayo mixture. Mix all of this stuff up – it will resemble a very colorful chicken salad. You can probably even use it as chicken salad if you wish, I’m sure it would be delicious.

Open the two tubes of crescent rolls. On an ungreased cookie sheet, separate all the triangles and place them with one side together all down the line, kind of like you’re playing with tangrams. Squish them together in the middle so you have a thin wide area of dough with pointy edges. You will need to arrange the triangles in such a way that once you have spooned all the chicken mixture on top of them, you will be able to fold over the ends of the triangles creating a kind of fat braided caterpillar effect. The mixture should be applied in an oblong mound about four to five inches thick and about eight or nine inches long. You can stretch the ends of the dough to a point that it will cover the top.

Place the caterpillar in the oven and cook at 350 until the top is brown, the bottom is done, and the stuff inside is warmed. If the top browns quickly, reduce the oven temperature and place a piece of foil over it. As you might expect, the bottom will take a bit longer to cook because of the mass of filling you have piled on top of it.

Once cooked, remove from oven and allow to cool for just a bit. Then slice and serve. This meal reheats well. And if you’re feeling especially creative and would like to serve individual chicken pies, take four of the dough triangles and shape them into a pinwheel effect. Spoon a bit of the chicken mix on top, and fold the four flaps over. This would serve four.