Crab-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

This is one of those recipes that tastes difficult, but is really, really easy.  It comes from The Best Casserole Cookbook Ever by Beatrice Ojakangas -- EXCELLENT COOKBOOK!!  It is chock full of great recipes, including how to make your own cream soups.  (Haven't tried that yet though!)

In this photo, I served it with roasted potatoes with dry onion soup and olive oil.
Crab-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

(Actually, the recipe called for turkey breasts, but I used chicken)

4 Tbsp butter
2 pounds chicken or turkey breasts
½ cup sliced green onions (white and green parts)
¼ pound thinly sliced mushrooms
3 Tbsp flour
2 tsp thyme (I used HALF this and it was plenty I thought!)
½ cup chicken broth
½ cup half and half or light cream (I used half and half)
½ cup dry white wine
Salt
Pepper
¾ pounds fresh crabmeat or 2 packages (6 oz each) frozen crabmeat, thawed and drained
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 cup shredded swiss cheese

1.  Preheat oven to 350 (I've started baking it at 400 because it doesn't get done for me).  Grease shallow 3 quart casserole dish with about 2 tsp of the butter.
2. Wash chicken/turkey and pat dry.  Place between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound until thin and about tripled in size.
3.  Melt remaining butter in a nonstick skillet.  Add green onions and mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes or until soft.  Stir in flour and 1 tsp of the thyme.  Whisk in the broth, cream and wine and bring to a boil, whisking constantly.  Cook until thickened and season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. In a small bowl, mix ¼ cup of the sauce, the crabmeat, parsley, and remaining thyme (I didn’t add more thyme here).  Divide mixture evenly between chicken/turkey slices.  Roll up into tight bundles and place in greased casserole seam side down.  Spoon remaining sauce over the top and sprinkle with cheese.  (You can cover the dish and refrigerate one day, add 10 minutes to cooking time)
5. Cover the casserole with a sheet of aluminum foil coated with cooking spray on one side.  Bake for 30 minutes or until the turkey/chicken is cooked through.

One note:  I used just two chicken breasts, so they were super full.  I had to put them back in for 10 minutes because they weren’t quite cooked.  If I had used four smaller ones, I think 30 minutes would have been fine.

ALSO, the second time I made them I used real crabmeat, instead of the imitation stuff, and believe it or not the real crabmeat didn't taste as good!  I'm going with imitation from now on.