Italian Stuffed Chicken Breast Food

ITALIAN STUFFED CHICKEN BREASTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toast pine nuts 5 minutes, until lightly browned. Reserve.
• Put washed spinach in skillet, cover. Steam about 2 minutes. Place in strainer, rinse with cold water and squeeze as much liquid out as possible. Chop medium fine.
• Heat butter in skillet, saute shallots until soft.
• Increase oven to 375 degrees.
• Butter a shallow baking dish.
• Mix pine nuts, spinach, shallots, ricotta cheese, egg yolk and pepper.
• Pound chicken breasts slightly.
• Place 1/.2 slice prosciutto on each breast, followed by 1/6 of filling. Fold in half. Place in buttered baking dish.
• Mix melted butter and lemon juice. Spoon over chicken breasts. Bake, basting occassionally, for 30 minutes (or until tender). Remove to platter and keep warm.
• Make sauce: Melt butter in skillet, saute mushrooms 3 minutes. Remove mushrooms.
• Add stock to skillet, boil until rediced to 1/4 cup. Add wine, boil until reduced to 1/2 cup. Add cream, boil until reduced to 3/4 cup.
• Return mushrooms to sauce.
• Add whatever juices have accumulated in chicken dish to sauce. Bring to boil, stirring. Add basil.
• Serve chicken breasts on platter. Pass sauce separately.

ITALIAN STUFFED CHICKEN BREAST

Steps:

• Place the bread crumbs in a large resealable plastic bag.
• Place the chicken between two pieces of wax paper and pound the chicken to flatten a little.
• Add this to the bag of crumbs and shake to coat.
• In a large skillet, over medium heat, brown the chicken in the oil.
• Remove from skillet.
• Place half of a cheese slice and two tablespoons of spinach (squeezed dry) down the center of each piece of chicken.
• Fold chicken over the filling and secure with a toothpick.
• Place in a greased 9-inch square baking dish.
• Top with spaghetti sauce and bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until heated.
• Discard toothpick and serve.

ITALIAN STUFFED CHICKEN BREAST

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Combine 1 1/2 cup Italian cheese blend, garlic, basil, and oregano in a bowl. Combine Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs in a separate bowl.
• Cut one side of each chicken breast through the middle horizontally to within one-half inch of the other side. Open the two sides and spread them out like an open book. Lightly pound chicken to flatten. Fill each chicken breast with Italian cheese blend mixture and close like a book over the filling. Coat the outside of each chicken breast with egg; press bread crumb mixture over egg layer to coat each chicken breast. Arrange chicken breasts in a 9x13-inch baking dish.
• Bake in the preheated oven until chicken is no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear, about 45 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). Pour spaghetti sauce over cooked chicken; top with 1/4 cup Italian cheese blend. Bake until sauce is bubbling and cheese is melted, about 5 more minutes.

ITALIAN STUFFED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and sauté half of the chopped onion until soft.
• Add the spinach and continue cooking over a medium heat, adding a touch of water if needed, until the spinach is wilted.
• Take off the heat and let cool for a moment, before stirring in just over half of the mozzarella cheese.
• Cool until you can comfortably handle the mixture.
• Meanwhile, cut a slit lengthways along each chicken breast but be careful not to cut them in half.
• You want to end up with a little pouch in each one.
• When the spinach mixture is cool, stuff each breast with as much of the mixture as you can.
• You may not use it all.
• Cover the chicken with some cling film and set in the fridge while you make the sauce.
• Heat some more olive oil in a saucepan and sauté the remaining onion and jalapeno pepper until soft.
• Add the chopped tomatoes, water, stock cube and oregano.
• Simmer for about 10 minutes until the flavours blend and the mixture starts to thicken.
• Stir in the tomato paste, season with salt and pepper and let simmer a few minutes more until you have a fairly thick sauce.
• Preheat the oven to 180 C or 350 degrees F.
• Put enough sauce in a casserole dish to cover the bottom.
• Lay in the chicken breasts and then cover with the remaining sauce.
• Bake for 40-45 minutes, then pull out of the oven briefly to scatter the remaining mozarella cheese on top.
• Turn on the grill and cook just until the cheese is bubbling and browned.

ITALIAN STUFFED CHICKEN BREAST

Steps:

• Sauté 1/2 cup onion in 2 tablespoons of olive oil for 4 minutes.
• Add chopped ham, parmesan, breadcrumbs and 1 tsp rosemary. Mix well and set aside.
• Split chicken breasts at their thickest part, creating a pocket but not cutting all the way through.
• Stuff chicken breasts with ham and breadcrumb mixture.
• Sauté chicken breasts in 2 tablespoons olive oil and balsamic vinegar and cook through.
• Remove chicken from skillet and keep warm in oven.
• Sauté 1/4 cup of remaining onion, add 1/2 teaspoons rosemary, the chicken broth, wine and garlic.
• Bring to a boil and reduce to 3/4 cup.
• Return chicken to skillet, cover and simmer 2 minutes until heated.
• Ladle a bit of the sauce over the chicken when you serve it up.
• A light pasta to absorb some of the sauce and salad makes this meal complete.

ITALIAN STUFFED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Beat the olives or sundried tomatoes, garlic and almost all the herbs into the cheese, then season. Cut a slit along the side of each chicken breast, then use your knife to open it out into a pocket.
• Stuff each breast with a quarter of the cheese mix, then press to close. Lift onto a greased baking tray. Season the top of the chicken, then overlap tomato slices over the top of each piece of chicken. Season, then scatter with the remaining herbs. Drizzle with olive oil.
• Roast for 20 mins until the chicken is golden around the edges and the tomatoes look a little shrivelled. Serve with a green salad and crusty bread to mop up the juices.

FLORENTINE STUFFED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a medium bowl, combine the spinach, Parmesan cheese and onion and mix thoroughly. Stuff the cavity of each chicken breast with 1/4 of the mixture. (NOTE: Bone-in split breasts usually have a little cavity; if one is not naturally present, use a sharp knife to make a slit in the side of the breast.)
• Lay stuffed breasts in a 9x13 inch baking dish, and cover with the sauce.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 35 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and tender; sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and bake another 5 minutes, until cheese is melted.

ITALIAN HAM-AND-CHEESE STUFFED CHICKEN BREASTS

Steps:

• Slice chicken breasts horizontally without cutting all the way through; open so breasts are flat. Place between 2 pieces of plastic wrap; pound gently with flat side of meat mallet.
• In small bowl, stir together parsley and mustard; spread over half of each chicken breast. Top each with half slices of cheese and prosciutto. Fold breasts to enclose stuffing; pressing edges together to seal. Sprinkle with salt. Place flour on plate; dip chicken in flour, tapping to remove excess.
• Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over meium heat until hot. Add chciken, cook 6-10 minutes or until golden brown, no longer pink in the center, and juices run clear. Place of serving platter.
• Increase heat to medium high. Add wine to skillet; cook 30-60 seconds until slightly reduced, stirring to scrape up any browned bits from bottom of skillet. Pour over chicken.