Chicken Kiev is a very popular Russian-influenced chicken dish that appears in so many different forms around the Western world that it's difficult to know
whose recipe should be considered authentic. I will therefore describe
Chicken Kiev as I know it in Australia. YMMV.
Chicken Kiev is available frozen or from chicken shops and butchers as a
premade item that need only be fried, deep fried or baked as is.
Variations on the theme, such as garlic prawn kiev, ham and cheese kiev,
camembert and avocado kiev or dried apricot and pine nut kiev make this an
admittedly expensive but very easy way to cater for the differing tastes of
all family members.
A large chicken breast is cut from a whole chicken, with the top of the
wing bone still attached to provide a small but useless handle sticking out
at one end. The breast is beaten flat and a large quanity of cold butter,
seasoned usually with lemon and garlic, is placed in the middle of the
breast and the meat rolled up around it. The whole package is crumbed
using a flour-egg-breadcrumb process, repeated until a solid coating is
formed.
Once cooked, the melted, seasoned butter inside the kiev serves as the
sauce. When eating variants such as the ham and cheese kiev, another sauce, such as Hollandaise may be provided.
An excellent recipe for chicken kiev may be found at The Australian Women's Weekly website at http://aww.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=40196