Spiced Chicken Roulade with Watercress and Feta over Persian Jeweled Rice
A dinner-party showpiece: chicken breasts pounded thin, rubbed with a warm Middle Eastern spice blend, rolled around a tangy watercress-feta filling, seared and oven-finished, then sliced into spirals. It's served over Persian Jeweled Rice with roasted rainbow carrots and purple sweet potatoes, and finished with pistachios, pomegranate, and dukkah.
Persian and Middle Eastern-inspired
Yield: Serves 2 (easily doubles to 4) · Active: 35 min · Total: 50 min, plus the rice · Best in North America in spring, when watercress is at its best, and lovely year-round · Best eaten: early evening
Ingredients
Warm spice blend (makes about ¼ cup; keeps 6 months in a jar)
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground Ceylon cinnamon
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp cayenne
1 tsp Baja Gold sea salt
½ tsp black pepper
Chicken
2 pasture-raised boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 6 oz each), pounded to ¼ inch thick
2 tsp warm spice blend
Baja Gold sea salt and black pepper
1–2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Watercress-feta filling
1 bunch watercress, tough stems trimmed, coarsely chopped
½ cup crumbled feta
2 tbsp whole-milk Greek yogurt
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ mild green chile (like Anaheim), finely minced
Pinch of salt and pepper
Roasted vegetables
1 medium purple sweet potato, cubed
1 medium orange sweet potato, cubed
4–6 rainbow carrots, halved lengthwise
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Baja Gold sea salt and black pepper
Pan sauce: 1 cup chicken bone broth
Persian Jeweled Rice: see my Persian Jeweled Rice post. For this dish, finish it with chopped mint, cilantro, and parsley, crumbled feta, dried cranberries, and pomegranate arils, when they're in season. (For grain-free, use cauliflower rice with the same jewels.)
Garnish: chopped pistachios, pomegranate arils (in season), and dukkah
Method
Make the spice blend. Mix all the spices together and store them in a jar.
Roast the vegetables. Heat the oven to 425°F. Toss the sweet potatoes and carrots with the olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast 25–30 minutes, until tender and caramelized.
Make the rice, following the Persian Jeweled Rice post, and finish it with the herbs, feta, cranberries, and pomegranate.
Make the filling. Stir the feta, yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, and chile together into a creamy spread, then fold in the watercress and season.
Roll the roulades. Lay the pounded chicken flat, and sprinkle each piece with 1 tsp spice blend, salt, and pepper. Spread the filling over the chicken, leaving a 1-inch border, then roll each one up tightly and secure the seam with toothpicks or kitchen twine.
Sear. Heat the olive oil in an oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the roulades seam-side down first, then turn them every minute or so, until golden all over, 4–6 minutes total.
Roast 10–15 minutes, until the chicken reaches 165°F in the center. Rest 5 minutes on a cutting board.
Make the pan sauce. Set the hot skillet on the stove, add the broth, and boil 1–2 minutes, scraping up the browned bits. Season to taste.
Serve. Remove the toothpicks or twine, and slice the roulades on the diagonal into 1-inch spirals. Spoon the jeweled rice onto plates, add the roasted vegetables and chicken, spoon the pan sauce over the top, and finish with pistachios, pomegranate, and a sprinkle of dukkah.
Storage
The cooked roulade keeps refrigerated up to 3 days (it's lovely sliced cold), and the roasted vegetables and rice up to 4 days. The spice blend keeps 6 months in an airtight jar.
Nourishment Notes
Pasture-raised chicken — lean, complete protein, B vitamins, selenium, and niacin.
Watercress — one of the most nutrient-dense leafy greens, with vitamin K, vitamin C, and glucosinolates.
Feta and Greek yogurt — calcium, protein, and mostly A2-type casein when they're made from sheep's or goat's milk.
Purple and orange sweet potatoes and rainbow carrots — anthocyanins in the purple varieties and beta-carotene in the orange.
Cumin, coriander, cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon — warming spices traditionally used to support digestion.
Pistachios and pomegranate — vitamin E, B6, punicalagins, and vitamin C.
Dukkah — an Egyptian blend of toasted nuts, seeds, and spices, which adds crunch and minerals.
Persian jeweled rice (morasa polo) is a celebratory dish, traditionally served at weddings and special occasions, its dried fruits, nuts, and herbs scattered like jewels across the rice.
For your cycle: The watercress's folate and vitamin C and the sweet potatoes' steady carbohydrates make this lovely in every phase, and especially satisfying in the luteal phase.
Sourcing
Chicken — pasture-raised, from a local farm or White Oak Pastures
Watercress, sweet potatoes, rainbow carrots, herbs, chiles, and lemons — organic, from a farmers' market
Feta — traditional Greek or Bulgarian sheep's milk feta (Feta PDO, from Greece)
Greek yogurt — organic, full-fat, and grass-fed, with no gums (or Bellwether Farms sheep's milk yogurt)
Pistachios — organic, California or Sicilian
Pomegranates — organic, in fall and winter
Bone broth — homemade, or Bonafide Provisions (organic, sold frozen)
Spices — organic and non-irradiated (Ceylon cinnamon from Sri Lanka)
Extra virgin olive oil — organic, single-estate, harvest-dated, in dark glass
Salt — Baja Gold sea salt
— Anna aka Food Marshall