For Labor Day I decided to make chicken breasts stuffed with mushrooms. They turned out really good, so even though I don't have any pictures I wanted to post the recipe.
First, for the mushroom stuffing I diced up a little over a pound of mushrooms in to a 1/4" dice. They were mostly button mushrooms but I had a few wild mushrooms left over from a pizza last week so I threw those in as well. These were sauteed in a few tablespoons of olive oil with a little salt and pepper. While the mushrooms were working away I diced up a vidalia onion in to the same size dice and added it once the mushrooms were nice and caramelized. These were allowed to cook until the onions were soft, translucent and starting to brown, then a finely diced clove or garlic and some fresh rosemary were added. When the smell of garlic started to waft off the pan about 1/2 cup of a dry white wane was added. This was cooked until the liquid was au sec, removed from heat, adjusted for seasoning and allowed to cool to room temperature.
To prep the chicken breasts I inserted a paring knife in the side of the thickest part, then moved it back and forth to produce a pocket in the flesh. Then I used my fingers to widen the pocket so it could take more stuffing. The mushroom stuffing was spooned in to the opening and pushed throughout the pocket, then the opening was sealed using a small wooden skewer and the chicken allowed to rest in the fridge.
The morning of Labor Day the chicken was coated with olive oil and seasoned with a mixture of salt, pepper, sugar, paprika, ancho chili powder and granulated garlic. The breasts were then sealed in a vacuum bag (FoodSaver) and cooked sous vide at 150 degrees for about 3 hours. Once removed, the bag was placed in the refrigerator to chill until we were ready for final cooking.
When we were ready to cook I lit a chimney of charcoal (what's Labor day without grilling?) and set up the grill for indirect cooking. A drip was placed in the center and the coals placed on either side. The chicken breasts were placed on the cooking grate directly over the drip pan and a large handful of soaked apple wood chips were placed on each pile of coals. One of the breasts had a temperature probe inserted in the middle of the stuffing so I could keep an eye on things, then the top was put on and the vents closed about 3/4 of the way to keep the temperature low. The chicken was allowed to smoke until the internal temperature reached 150 degrees.
The end result was really nice. Beautiful mahogany color with great smoke flavor, but not so overpowering that you couldn't taste the other ingredients and the cooking method kept the meat nice and moist. This is rather labor intensive, but a recipe I'll keep in mind for special occasions.
