She Said - Stuffed Chicken Breast

Yesterday I posted about the baked potatoes my husband made for his third selection for the Second Annual He Said/She Said Contest.  My gosh they were delicious!  While he was making the potatoes I made the stuffed chicken breast (Pp. 86) from Jean Paré's Company's Coming Heart-Friendly Cooking for my third entry.  Lately I have been doing a fair amount of experimenting with various stuffings.  I thought the stuffing in this recipe sounded interesting.

My apologies, in hindsight I should have taken pictures of each dish separately rather than the complete entrée.  Unfortunately I didn't so had to use the same picture as yesterday's post.

I used the stuffing to make 2 stuffed chicken breasts, substituted unbleached flour for the all-purpose flour and used olive oil in a health mister in place of cooking spray.   The chicken breasts did not brown up as nicely as I would have liked but they were cooked through.  This will be something I work on the next time I make them.  

The stuffed chicken breasts were quite tasty and they did pair nicely with the baked potato dinner (stuffed potatoes).  It is definitely another keeper recipe!  The stuffing makes about 1¼ c but I used it all between the 2 large chicken breasts.  I would do it the same way the next time I make them as the stuffing had a lovely flavour.  I think the stuffing would also be suitable for making a stuffed chicken loaf.  All the way around it was a great tasting meal that we will make again.

Stuffed Chicken Breast
source: Jean Paré Company's Coming Heart-Friendly Cooking, 2003, Pp. 11

1 medium leek, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ c finely chopped red pepper
1 tsp olive oil
6 oz jar marinated artichokes
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp brown sugar, packed
1 - 3 tbsp fresh sweet basil, chopped
8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
½ all-purpose flour
1½ c fine dry whole wheat bread crumbs
2 large eggs
2 tbsp mil

Thinly slice the white and tender parts of the leak.  Drain and chop the artichokes.  Sauté lee, garlic and red pepper in olive oil on medium-high until leek is soft.  Reduce heat to medium.  Add artichoke, vinegar, and brown sugar.  Heat and stir until sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat and stir in basil.  Cut a deep horizontal slit into 1 side of each chicken breast to form a pocket.  Fill each pocket with stuffing.  Secure the openings with wooden picks.  Put the flour and bread crumbs into separate bowls.  Beat eggs an milk with fork in a third bowl.  Dredge the chicken in flour to coat, dip into the egg mixture then into the bread crumbs.  Spray the chicken with cooking spray.  Bake at 350ºF (175ºC) until chicken is golden and no longer pink inside, about 25 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Allow to cool slightly.  Remove wooden pick.  Cut chicken in half diagonally to serve.

Serves 8