Herb and Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast
I came upon the recipe that inspired this in my latest “Cooking Light” magazine issue. Indeed it may not be quite the “lightest” dinner ever. Chicken – good, herbs – good, goat cheese – eh…But you know what? Goat cheese is certainly better than stuffing it with cheddar or fontina (which I have done and loved), so if you want a stuffed chicken breast, this probably is still on the “light” side. And hey, speaking of “light side”, I did have a light side dish. What’s healthier than steamed asparagus?
I started this dish by digging out my seldom used and under appreciated Cuisinart mini-prep. It has become the ugly step-child of the kitchen ever since its big brother entered the picture. Nonetheless, it works extremely well for small applications like this. Here, I have combined a few fresh basil leaves, some thyme, black pepper, and about 2 oz plain goat cheese.
Blitz it up with a tiny bit of olive oil to make it slightly more pliable.
Herbed Goat Cheese
Then move on to prepping the chicken. I used boneless skinless chicken breasts which I then butterflied and pounded out.
Pounded Chicken
A small cast-iron skillet is the perfect meat-pounder if you don’t own a “real” meat pounder. Its flat, heavy, and has a large surface area. Just don’t forget the plastic wrap!
Cast-Iron Meat Pounder
Once the chicken is evenly flattened, spread the goat cheese mixture on in an even, thin layer. Cover only 1/2 or 1/3 of the chicken so that you can fold it over to cover the cheese.
Folded over Chicken
Try to make sure that not too much cheese is going to melt out, although so melting is inevitable. Luckily, the cheese doesn’t burn if it melts out, just gets oozy.
And after all that fussiness, I needed a super simple side-dish! Have I ever mentioned how much I love my Farberware Steamer Pot? I do, I love it.
Steamed Asparagus
And that’s all folks. It turned out to be too much food, the chicken was very filling!
Perfect Springtime Dinner
Prep Ranking: #2 – Weeknight Fare
Tastiness Grade: 6/10 – the flavor was delicious, however, the chicken was a bit tough by the time it was cooked.
Simple recipe after the break.
Doctor Domestic 