Recipe Leek and Chicken Baked Medjool Date Loaf

[flyinglentris]

Leek and Chicken Baked Medjool Date Loaf:

Ingredients:

NOTE: The following ingredients should be used in an 8x8" baking pan.

1) Leek - 1
2) Chicken - 1 Half Breast
3) Medjool Dates - 40
4) Bread Crumbs - 1/2 Cup
5) Egg - 1
6) Unbleached Flour - as required
7) Butter - 2 Tblspns.
8) Fennel - 1 Tblspn.
9) Ginger Root - 1/2" piece.
10) Dill - 1 Tspn.
11) Lemon Juice - 2 Tblspns.
12) Asiago Cheese - as required
13) Olive Oil - as required
14) Water - as required


Procedure:

ALERT: Dates can be very sticky and the Dough will be. Have on hand a wet cleaning cloth a bowl of water and paper towels to clean hands and utensils.

1) Remove pits from Dates.
2) Cross Cut the Leek from Bottom to Greens.
3) Cut off the tail (pointy) end of the Chicken Half Breast

NOTE: Take about 1/3 of the length of the Half Breast.

4) Cut the larger part of the Chicken Half Breast into pieces.

NOTE: Cut the larger Part in half lengthwise and then slice the two parts into pieces.

5) Puree the Half Breast Tail, 25 Dates and Ginger Root.
6) Stir in Fennel Seeds and set aside.
7) Puree 15 Dates and Egg with Water.
8) Add Flour to create a wet Dough.
9) Knead in Bread Crumbs.
10) Slick the baking Pan with Oil
11) Press out the Dough in the bottom of the baking pan.
12) Fill in the Puree of Chicken and Dates
13) Wrap Chicken Pieces in Leek Greens
14) Arrange the Leek and Chicken Pieces in the Filling.

NOTE: Arrange the Leek Disks and Chicken Pieces in an even distribution.

15) Shred or grate the Asiago Cheese.
16) Melt the Butter in Lemon Juice and add Dill.
17) Drizzle the Butter and Lemon Juice over the Leek Disks.
18) Cover the Leek Disks with shredded Asiago Cheese.
19) Bake on the bottom rack of an oven at 325F for 25 minutes.

NOTE: Periodically check and make sure top is not burned or overly browned.

20) Bake another 15 minutes at 240F.
21) Allow to cool for about 10 to 15 minutes.
22) Serve.

Makes 4 servings.

 

[Morning Glory]

This is a most unusual recipe. In principle the idea of using dates, ginger and fennel (seeds?) with leeks and chicken is excellent and somewhat Middle Eastern. However, this is a lot of dates to use and I would expect the result to be overly sweet given that this is a savoury bread.

I must be honest, I'm rather puzzled by is why raw chicken pieces and raw puréed chicken is placed on uncooked dough. This simply doesn't feel right to me. It could be I'm not fully understanding the method, but it looks as if you are creating something that looks like a deep pan pizza. But this isn't a dough with any leavening. I can only imagine that the result would be rather stodgy?

This recipe is difficult to assess as the methods used are not in any sense cooking methods with which I'm familiar or have ever heard of!