Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts.

That's right, I said breasts.

But seriously. I can cook, so I thought I could start sharing some recipes on here. This is what I made for dinner tonight...

Stuffed chicken breasts may SEEM like a lot of work, but really they're relatively easy. You're going to need about 20 minutes for prep time, and an hour of cook time. I serve mine with Roasted Baby Potatoes, and the recipe for that follows this one.

Ricotta and Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts (serves 5)
My presentation is weak but bear with me.

• 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts -thawed.

For filling:

• 4 cups fresh, chopped spinach or 2 packs of thawed and drained chopped frozen spinach
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 500g of light ricotta cheese
  
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese (I use light)
  
• 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 tbsp dried parsley
  
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil
  
• salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium sized bowl, combine ricotta cheese, eggs, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, parsley and garlic. Fold in spinach until it is well incorporated into mixture. Set filling aside.

Take your chicken breast and butterfly fillet it. If you don't know how to do this, watch the video below.



Once your chicken breast has been "butterflied", place it in a large ziplock freezer bag or between two sheets of saran wrap. Using a meat mallet (if you don't have one, you can use a hammer, just be gentle) and pound the chicken breast to thin it out. You want to make it thin enough to stretch around the filling, but not so thin that you put multiple holes in it. If you DO put holes it it, it's okay as ricotta cheese is very dense.

Scoop approximately 3/4 cup of filling on to each flattened and butterflied chicken breast and roll the chicken around the filling so both ends of the chicken overlap and make a "package".

Spray a shallow baking dish with pam and place the stuffed chicken breasts within it. Brush each stuffed chicken breast with EVOO, salt and pepper, and sprinkle a generous amount of Parmesan cheese on top. Bake for one hour uncovered. When the chicken is finished baking let it stand for about ten minutes before serving.

Roasted Baby Potatoes

• 10 baby potatoes per person (or more depending on who you're feeding)
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp rosemary
• 1 clove of finely minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp of chili flakes
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• salt and pepper to taste
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In an large bowl toss all of the listed ingredients together. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (easy clean up!) and spread potatoes on baking sheet. Bake for 1hr. Let stand for 10 minutes. Potatoes will appear shiny and wrinkly and will POP! in your mouth.


If you're making both of these dishes together you can put them in the oven at the same time! How convenient.