Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Description
I found this recipe I don't know how many decades ago and I have been making it ever since. I don't think the original recipe included pancetta, but I have added it, and it really does elevate this dish, adding a lot of flavor with only a few extra calories.
When I first started making this dish, I was easily able to find boneless, skin-on chicken breasts. Over the years, they became harder and harder to find and since the pandemic, I haven't been able to find them anywhere except my local gourmet grocery store, where I can always get them. Some of your grocery stores will be more well-stocked than the one that's two minutes from my house, but you may have to go to a butcher or a gourmet grocery store to find them.
Ingredients
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 400*
Heat a non-stick skillet (just because it's the easiest) over medium-high heat. When hot, toss the pancetta in and saute until it is cooked through and crispy, but not burned.
While you're cooking the pancetta, place the spinach, cream cheese a generous pinch of salt and a shake or two of white pepper into a microwave-safe bowl.
Microwave on high for about 3 minutes. Check the mixture and drain excess water if necessary (a little is ok); stir to combine the ingredients. If the spinach appears to be cooked and warm or kinda medium-hot, then you're good. If not, microwave on high for another minute or two until the whole mixture is medium-hot and the cheese is melted.
Add the cooked pancetta to the spinach mixture and stir to combine:
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Using your fingers, carefully pull the skin from the top of the chicken breast to create a "pocket" where you will place the spinach stuffing mixture.
Sprinkle salt and pepper o the chicken breast if you didn't have time to brine the chicken.
Stuff the spinach mixture into the pocket and don't be afraid to put quite a bit of stuffing in. The combination of the spinach, cream cheese and pancetta with the chicken is yummy and you want to make sure that you (and your guests!) have plenty of the filling to eat with the chicken.
Using the back of a spoon, smooth a little mustard on the skin of the chicken breast. I like Edmund Fallot mustard--this one has tarragon in it.
Place chicken into an oven-safe dish and bake at 400* for 35-35 minutes, depending on the thickness of your chicken. Using a quick-probe thermometer, check the temperature after about 25 minutes. "Done" is about 165*. I usually like to cook my chicken to more like 175* just to be on the safe side--still juicy and tender, but definitely done.
This is a great, easy week-night dinner. Enjoy with glazed carrots and steamed asparagus.
I would serve a nice, light Pinot Noir with this meal. My favorites right now are the ones that Gran Moraine in the Willamette Valley in Oregon are making--they produce a variety of them from light and slightly tangy to deep, rustic and rich--literally something for every meal. We also recently had a lovely Pinot from Failla Vineyards in the Napa Valley.
