Chicken Breasts Stuffed With Spinach and Mozzarella
Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Mozzarella, Pesto and Spinach
(serves four)
four chicken breast fillets
four handfuls spinach
4 tbsps pesto
1 ball buffalo mozzarella
16 strips streaky (American) bacon
16 toothpicks
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
This is merely an assembly job. In order to maintain perfect kitchen hygiene, the most important thing to do is to make sure you have removed your portion of spinach from the bag before you begin, and that you’ve counted out your bacon strips. The last thing you want to do is contaminate the rest of the spinach and bacon with raw chicken juice. As well, you should have your 4 tbsps of pesto in a small dish of their own, rather than dipping a chickeny spoon into the general pesto pot, and have counted out your toothpicks and set them aside. Make sense?
Now, gather your ingredients in easy reach and get a sharp knife. Lay each chicken breast on a cutting board and carefully cut a slice horizontally through the breast, not going all the way through to the back. Essentially you are making a pocket, an envelope, in the chicken breast.
Now spread a spoonful of pesto in the pocket, and tuck the spinach leaves and a quarter of the mozzarella ball into each pocket. As best as possible, close up the pocket and wrap each breast in four strips of bacon, securing the bacon through the chicken with the toothpicks.
Heat the oil and butter in a large, heavy skillet and place the chicken breasts in it. Cook, turning frequently, for about 20–25 minutes, poking at the breasts experimentally to feel them stiffen and become thoroughly cooked inside. Finally you may feel you want to cut on breast in half to ascertain that they are fully cooked.
Serve hot.