Baked Chicken Stuffed with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto and Goat Cheese

I found this recipe over at Kalyn's Kitchen via Food Blog Search

If you haven't used Food Blog Search yet, go there immediate. Or, at least after dinner. I use that site to search for recipes instead of a straight google search. It's cuts down on the number of annoying sites with popups and ads.

My friend, Louie, was over while I was preparing and gave me a couple of ideas. The first is, when pounding the chicken, use the flat edge of the meat tenderizer instead of the pointed end. It flattens the chicken without breaking it up. Second, I added a "pinch" of red pepper flakes to the pesto-goat cheese mix and it gave it a subtle kick. This is an impressive dish for guests that is pretty easy to do. See Kayln's site for detailed description of rolling and dredging the chicken.


Baked Chicken Stuffed with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto, Basil, and Goat Cheese
(6 servings, recipe created by Kalyn)

6 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/2 cup 100% whole wheat pastry flour
3 eggs, beaten well
2/3 cup 100% whole wheat bread crumbs
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
6 oz. goat cheese (log type, such as Chevre)
6 oz. Sun-dried tomato pesto
1/2 cup fresh basil, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 F. Trim all visible fat and tendons from chicken breasts. Put chicken breasts, one at a time, inside a heavy plastic plastic freezer bag and pound with meat mallet or other heavy object until 1/4 inch thick. (This is where I used the flat side of the mallet)

Put pesto (I threw together a quick pesto in the food processor and left it there for this step), goat cheese, and chopped basil in food processor and buzz a few times until mixture is combined but not completely blended. (This is where I added a pinch of red pepper flakes) Spread 1/6 of pesto/basil/goat cheese mixture on each chicken breast. Roll up chicken, starting with smallest end, tucking in loose pieces and securing with two toothpicks. (I got away with not using the toothpicks)

Put flour, beaten egg, and bread crumbs combined with parmesan cheese into three separate flat dishes. Roll each chicken breast, first in flour, then in egg, then in bread crumb/parmesan mixture.

Oil the glass casserole dish and arrange chicken so pieces are not touching. Bake at 350 F for about 50-60 minutes, or until chicken is slightly browned and firm, but not hard to the touch. I recommend you start checking it after 40 minutes (for me, it was done in 40), and remove from oven as soon as the chicken feels firm and is slightly browned.