What’s For Dinner Tonight? Rosie’s Simple Stuffed Chicken
Viva chats with everyday Kiwis as they share their go-to dinner recipes
Meet Rosie Addison, a freelance graphic designer, part-time kindergarten teacher’s aide and piano teacher.
To say the Auckland-based mum of two leads a busy lifestyle would be quite the understatement, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“No two days are the same, and I enjoy the variety of it all,” Rosie says.
Mornings are often spent rushing her two boys off to school, before settling down to design a website for a client, or heading to the kindergarten to squeeze in a couple hours’ work.
“It’s not the most glamorous job on the planet,” Rosie says of cleaning paint pots and sorting pom poms or pipe cleaners at her part-time job. “But it’s fun and I absolutely love it.”
Time seems to double in speed in the afternoons, when Rosie picks up her boys from school and feeds them afternoon tea before her first piano student arrives.
This is precisely where Rosie’s dinner struggle begins. “When I’ve been pouring my energy into people and projects all day, dinner is often the last thing I think about. 5.30pm always creeps up on me, so most nights I revert to my go-to recipes,” she says.
Currently on high rotation in the Addison household
is Rosie’s simple stuffed chicken recipe, which she says is a popular dish with her growing (and hungry) boys.
Rosie says her inspiration for the dish came from her partner, David. “It’s a flavour combination he introduced me to in the form of a bagel topping in the early stages of our relationship. He used to toast bagels, smear them with cream cheese, and add a little red onion, capers and smoked salmon. It was his favourite bagel at a New York-style bagel eatery in Christchurch many years ago.”
I have stuffed chicken with all sorts of different flavours, but this is my favourite,” she says.
As pleasing to the taste-buds as it is on the eyes, Rosie says she loves “how perfectly tender the chicken becomes when it’s wrapped in bacon, plus the saltiness of the capers and the bitter bite of the red onion. The cream cheese makes the whole thing melt in your mouth.
“I do like to experiment a bit in the kitchen, but when I want a go-to crowd-pleaser I always go straight to this dish. It’s got the warmth of a Sunday roast but it’s perfect for a quick, mid-week meal.”
This year-round recipe calls for ingredients that are readily available from your local New World, including fresh produce like potatoes served warm and mashed, blistered tomatoes and green beans in winter, or a refreshing coleslaw in summer. Look for the Go-To Meal Hub at your local New World and pick up everything you need to make Rosie’s Go-To for a great price.