Baked Chicken Stuffed with Pesto and Cheese

Ok so remember that part where I promised more posts in the new year?  So much for that.  But I have returned!  I haven't stopped cooking, I just keep forgetting to take pictures and write about it.  There was an unfortunate evening involving clams sauteed in a jalapeno-type sauce, which for me just ruined the clams.  It was that evening that I realized the traditional steamed clams in some kind of a white wine sauce is all you ever need.  Speaking of, anyone want to go to Seattle and gorge themselves on clams, mussels and salmon?

When I left you all last I was lamenting my inability to properly roll/stuff a chicken breast.  Something I'm convinced I still don't quite have figured out.  But I am nothing if not tenacious so I figured I would try again.  This time around I will be stuffing my chicken with a pesto and mozzarella cheese mixture.


Baked Chicken Stuffed with Pesto and Cheese
-  2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
-  2 Tbsp of pesto
-  2 Tbsp of sour cream
-  2 Tbsp of grated mozzarella
-  2 eggs, beaten like a red-headed step child
-  3 Tbsp finely grated parmesan cheese
-  3 Tbsp of almond flour

Preheat the oven to 375 while you prep the chicken.  I'll be honest prep is easy and quick with this one. The recipe said to put the chicken breasts in a "heavy plastic bag" but the picture showed it inside a ziploc bag.  What sorcery is this?  Could this be the secret to my chicken pounding issues?  Every time
I try to pound a chicken thin it does not go well.  So I pulled out a ziploc bag (I bought some at costco about 2 years ago and I'm not quite through the first box so if anyone needs ziploc bags let me know) and put one chicken breast inside and pounded away.  I have no idea what the point of the plastic bag was.  I took care to make sure there was no extra air in the bag and yet somehow I still popped the bag and the chicken slid out.  Lesson learned: pounding chicken is not a strength of mine.







In a bowl of your choosing mix the pesto, sour cream and mozzarella.  I don't like how recipes tell me to use a small bowl, I'LL USE WHATEVER BOWL I WANT TO THANK YOU VERY MUCH!  Also I should note that I added a little extra pesto and little extra mozzarella to the mixture because, well because I said so, and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Using a rubber spatula (I'm not condemning you to this utensil, just letting you know what I used, I believe you have a right to choose your own utensils) I spread the mixture onto the flattened chicken breasts.  I was careful to leave a little extra space around the edges.  If I have learned anything from my previous chicken rolling/stuffing experiences its that you cannot overload the chicken with stuffing.  That's where it all goes wrong for me, I want all of the good stuff crammed in there and then when you roll it up it doesn't fit and you get filling spilling all over the place.  It is less than ideal for creating a neatly rolled chicken breast.





I actually remembered to buy toothpicks this time around (I usually dont) so I rolled up the chicken and probably went a little overboard with my toothpick use.  I just wanted to be absolutely sure those things weren't going to fall apart.  Especially since I still had to work with them a bit.

Prepare two bowls, one with the beaten eggs and one with the parmesan-almond flour mixture.  Dip the chicken breast into the eggs first and roll it around, try not to throw up in your mouth (dripping egg on raw chicken....mmmm) then coat it in the parmesan-almond flour mixture.  Make sure the chicken is well coated and place into a casserole dish that you have sprayed with a little non-stick spray.  This non stick spray is an important step.  I made a second attempt at beef wellington recently and it went very well until I forgot to grease the damn pan and everything fell apart as I had to scrape it out of the pan.

After you have the chicken breasts in the pan, throw it in the oven for about 25-35 minutes.  Ultimately I was a little disappointed that my crust on the chicken didn't get to that nice golden-brown color, however everything was cooked just fine.





















To go with the chicken I decided to roast a little cauliflower.  Nothing overly fancy and honestly nothing overly tasty either.

Oven Roasted Cauliflower
-  1 medium cauliflower broken into florets
-  1/4 cup Olive Oil
-  1 Tbsp garlic, sliced
-  1 tsp salt
-  1/2 tsp black pepper
-  2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated
-  1 chive, chopped for garnish

Apparently this is the only picture I took of the Cauliflower

As I said the recipe was very simple, preheat the oven to 500.  Put the cauliflower into a roasting pan and drizzle the olive oil over it.  Season with the garlic, salt and pepper.  Throw it in the oven for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure even roasting.  Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the parmesan cheese, garnish with the chives and serve.

Here was my problem in the end with this one, there was no flavor.  I like cauliflower, but cauliflower isn't exactly bursting with flavor on its own.  The garlic didn't do enough to punch up the flavor of the cauliflower.  Or maybe I am just used to my other favorite cauliflower recipe which involves roasting it in butter and sage (it is delicious by the way).

All in all I thought it all turned out pretty good.  It isn't the best thing I've every cooked, but it was all fairly easy so you can't argue with that.  Or you could I guess, but ultimately that's up to you.