Cinnamon Roll Murder

“Yes. Don’t erase it though, just in case. Okay?”

“Okay. I wouldn’t erase it anyway. It’s the last picture of Buddy I’ve got.” Shelby’s lip quivered and she blinked several times. Then she took a deep breath and set two small plates in front of them. “We started serving the appetizers, so I brought you some. This is Nancy’s Piggy Chicken. Nancy’s the owner’s wife and it’s made from her recipe.”

“Piggy Chicken?” Hannah looked down at her plate. The aroma wafting up to her was heavenly. “It looks like rouladen.”

“What’s that?” Shelby looked puzzled.

“It’s meat that’s been pounded thin and rolled up with some kind of filling inside. Then it’s baked, or fried.”

“That sounds a lot like this.”

“Is the piggy part of Piggy Chicken the bacon that’s wrapped around the outside?” Andrea asked her.

“That’s right. And the chicken part is chicken tenders pounded flat in the kitchen. I watched the cook make them once. The stuff inside is cream cheese and chives. He spreads the cream cheese on the chicken, and snips the chives off with scissors over the top. Then he rolls them up with a strip of bacon, sticks in a toothpick, and bakes them in the oven. I think Tom, he’s the owner, is going to ask the cook if he can make them bigger so we can serve them for dinner.”

Hannah just couldn’t take it anymore. She cut off a piece and put it in her mouth. The Piggy Chicken had been baked to perfection. The bacon was crispy, the chicken was tender and the cream cheese and chive filling just melted in her mouth. “These are really great!” she said, already planning out how to make them at home.

“There’s another one they make sometimes called Piggy Moo.”

“Beef instead of chicken?” Hannah guessed.

“That’s right. And we’ve got another appetizer coming up soon,” Shelby said, obviously pleased that Hannah liked their first one. “I’ll bring it as soon as they plate it. It’s Janet’s Texas Jalapeno Pimento Cheese. She’s Tom’s daughter, and she lives in Dallas. It comes with crackers and a little knife, and everybody loves it.”

“I’ll bet they do,” Hannah said. “I can hardly wait to taste it. Is it fiery hot?”

“It’s not that hot. They’re pickled jalapenos and that takes away some of the heat. The cheese part helps, too. We do sell a lot of drinks after people eat it, though.”

Hannah grinned, but she didn’t say anything. She knew a bit about restaurant sales, and she’d been told that there was more profit to be made on the drinks than there was on the food. It seemed that Tom, the owner of Club Nineteen, was a good businessman.

“I’ll be back,” Shelby said, picking up her tray and preparing to leave.

“Just a second,” Hannah stopped her. “Please don’t tell the owner, or anyone else for that matter, that Buddy’s dead. My sister and I would like to tell him ourselves.”

“Sure thing,” Shelby said. “I don’t want to talk about it anyway. Maybe we never would have gotten together the way I wanted us to, but just thinking about Buddy being gone makes me too sad for words.”

PIGGY CHICKEN

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

Hannah’s 1st Note: This recipe is from my friend, Nancy Sapir. Nancy’s family just loves Piggy Chicken. Nancy wrote “Sooo good!” on the bottom of her recipe. This recipe may sound complicated, but it’s not. Once you do it you’ll laugh at how delicious and easy it is. (And it looks gorgeous and very difficult, as if you spent all day working in the kitchen—don’t tell ANYONE you didn’t! It’s Nancy’s secret ... right?)

1 to 1 and ? pounds boneless, skinless chicken ten- ders

8 ounces cream cheese (NOT whipped, NOT low fat—use the brick type of cream cheese, not the plastic tub) ( I used an 8-ounce box of Philadel- phia Cream Cheese.)

cup (2 Tablespoons) dried chopped chives

cup dried minced onions (optional)

salt

freshly ground pepper

1 pound regular-sliced bacon (Don’t use microwave bacon or thick-sliced bacon. The thick-sliced bacon may not get crisp, and the microwave bacon may get too crisp since it’s been pre- cooked.)

Hannah’s 2nd Note: I added the minced dried onions to Nancy’s recipe because the whole Swensen clan likes onions. Since I was the one who added it, I made it optional.

Lay each skinless, boneless chicken tender between two sheets of plastic wrap and place them on a cutting board or a bread board on the counter. Use a meat hammer to pound them as flat as you can get them without creating holes. If you pound on the undersides, instead of on the tops, they’re less apt to fall apart.

Hannah’s 3rd Note: If you don’t have a meat hammer, you can smack the chicken tenders flat with a rolling pin. (I saw that on the Food Channel.) You can also use a thin board on top of the plastic wrap covered chicken tender and hit the board all over with a hammer. You can even do what I did and hit the plastic wrapped chicken tender with a rubber mallet. And here’s some marriage-saving advice: If you choose this last option, don’t tell your husband that you used his rubber mallet!

Once you’ve pounded the chicken tenders thin and stacked them (still inside the plastic wrap) on the counter, it’s time to prepare your baking pan.

Eyeball the pile of pounded chicken tenders. Once you’ve assessed how much space they’ll take, find a shallow pan (or two) that will hold them all with at least one inch between them on all sides. (Nancy says the space between them is very important so that the bacon can get crispy.) Spray this pan (or both pans) with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.

Move one flattened chicken tender to the cutting board or bread board. Take off the top sheet of plastic wrap.

If your cream cheese isn’t softened, put it in a microwave-safe bowl and heat it on HIGH for 25 seconds. If you can’t stir it smooth at the end of that time, microwave it on HIGH at 20-second intervals until you can stir it smooth.

Add the chives plus the dried onions if you used them. Mix them into the cream cheese thoroughly.

Use a rubber spatula or a frosting knife to spread approximately 2 teaspoons of softened cream cheese on the flattened chicken tender.

Hannah’s 4th Note: Don’t worry about contaminating your cream cheese with raw chicken juice. If there’s any cream cheese left over, you’re going to throw it away rather than risk whatever dire disease you might get from raw chicken. You’re also going to wash the cutting board, the rubber spatula or frosting knife, and the bowl holding the cream cheese very thoroughly. (Washing them in the dishwasher is best.)

Sprinkle the dried chopped chives with minced dried onions (if you decided to use them).

Sprinkle the cream cheese mixture with salt and freshly ground pepper.