Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Spinach and Mushrooms

 
Degree of Difficulty: Intermediate
Prep Time: 20 min
Total Cook Time: 50 min

Ingredients:
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1 large shallot, very finely chopped
1 garlic clove, very finely chopped
5 oz mushrooms, chopped finely (I used baby portobellos, but you can use whatever kind you like)
2 large handfuls of fresh spinach
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 egg
1/2 cup panko crumbs
2 tbsp freshly ground parmesan cheese
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped finely
5 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
6 leaves fresh basil

The first step is to make the stuffing. Place a large skillet over medium heat and let it come up to temperature. When the pan is hot, add 2 tbsp olive oil, then add the shallots and cook for about 5 min. Add the garlic and cook for another 1 min. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 min, then add the spinach, chicken stock, and salt/pepper to taste. Cook until the spinach is wilted…about 3-4 min. Transfer this mixture to a bowl and place in the refrigerator to allow it to cool.

While the stuffing is cooling, it’s time to deal with the chicken breasts. You’ll want to use a meat tenderizer to pound out the chicken breasts until they are fairly thin so they’ll be easy to roll…about 1/2 inch thick. I do my tenderizing skin-side up, with the chicken breast covered on each side by a piece of plastic wrap. This rests on a stable cutting board. Pound the chicken as gently and evenly as possible so as to not tear the meat up. Once the meat has been pounded to an appropriate thickness, remove the plastic wrap and flip the breasts over so that the skin-side is now down. Season the inside of the breasts with salt and pepper to taste. Lay a few basil leaves down on the center of each breast, then apply roughly 1-2 tbsp of the ricotta cheese to each breast, right on top of the basil leaves. Once the stuffing is cool enough to handle, you can spoon roughly 2 tbsp (per breast) of it on top of the ricotta cheese (don’t go too nuts with the stuffing or you’ll have a really hard time with the next step). Carefully roll up the chicken breasts and secure with toothpicks (or you can tie them up if you have kitchen twine handy).

Set your oven to 375 degrees. Combine the panko, parmesan cheese, and thyme and place on a plate or in some kind of flat-bottomed container. Beat the egg (add 1 tbsp of water to the egg) in another flat bottomed container. You’re going to carefully coat the chicken with the egg and then cover it with the panko/parm/thyme mixture. Place a large, ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat and let it come up to temperature. When it does, add 3 tbsp olive oil to the pan, wait about 30 sec, then add the breaded chicken breasts to the pan. I usually do this with the ‘toothpicked’ side facing up. You want the chicken breasts to get nice and brown on each side, so give them about 3 min on one side before attempting to flip over to another side. I find that I have to flip the breasts 3 times to get all sides to brown. Flip carefully so as to not tear the whole assembly apart. The toothpicks will get in the way, so try not to mind them too much. Once all sides have been browned (about 12 min total), place the skillet directly into the oven for about 10-15 min, or until the chicken has cooked all the way through. Be sure to remove the toothpicks before serving. Your final result should look something like this:

Mmmm….gooey ricotta cheese oozes out when you cut into the breasts: