I’ve been looking for some new ways to cook chicken and this recipe pushed me to try a new process of using toothpicks to secure a piece of chicken rolled with delicious veggies. Beyond this, in researching stuffed chicken options there are just so many! I landed on this one because I already had most of the ingredients in the fridge, but this is a technique I look forward to continuing in the future. What other flavor combinations would you suggest?

Ingredients:

• 3 large chicken breasts (ours were enormous… 2.2 pounds… so we cut them each in half widthwise – on the ‘equator’)
• 10 oz of fresh spinach
• 2 Tablespoons of butter
• 4 garlic cloves
• 8 oz of mushrooms
• 1 onion roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese  
• Toothpicks
• Olive oil, salt and pepper
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 cup chicken broth

Steps and Notes:

1. Place the chicken inside of a plastic bag and pound thin
2. In a nonstick skillet saute the butter, mushrooms, garlic and onion.  Season with salt and pepper for 5 about minutes.
3. Transfer the cooked mushroom mixture to a food processor and chop
   • I wanted to keep a decent chunk – so only 2 quick pulses did the trick using my large food processor
4. Place the mushroom mixture into a large mixing bowl and add the cheese.
5. Put the spinach into the empty processor and quickly chop then add this to the mixing bowl as well.
6. Add a mound of stuffing onto each chicken breast and roll the chicken from end to end.
   • I also tried a ‘fold in half’ strategy but this was much harder to close with the toothpicks.
7. Secure the chicken roll with one toothpick on the end.
8. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan and add the rolled chicken.  Brown the chicken, rotating it to each side using tongs. Total cooking time about 12 minutes.
   • Note: the chicken cooks fairly quickly because it is so thin, so keep an eye on it
9. Once cooked, remove from pan to make the sauce with the juices in the pan.
10. Add butter and flour and cook for one minute.
11. Whisk in the wine and reduce for one minute then whisk in the broth.
12. Return the chicken to the pan until ready to serve.
    • Make sure to remove the toothpicks before serving!

We ate this with spaghetti squash and a simple arugula salad.

Thoughts for Next Time:

• Make a thicker sauce, possibly a red sauce. This one felt a bit thin.
• Use the ricotta as the original recipe called for. 
• Add pine nuts and/or feta
• Try some totally different variations such as: apple and goat cheese stuffed chicken or prosciutto and fontina.