Chicken Stuffed with Pesto and Cheese

Ok, you have probably noticed my love of cheese, so this recipe might not surprise you too much. It's not as high in fat as it might seem, because some of the fat cooks out and gets poured off at the end. See the suggestions at the end for things to serve this with to make a meal that's not too rich.

I make my own pesto in the summer, but in the winter I buy the big jars at Costco and freeze it in 1 cup containers. The good thing about freezing the pesto is when you thaw it in the microwave, the oil rises to the top. I poured off quite a bit of that oil when I made this. Be sure to cool the pesto before you proceed with the recipe.

BAKED CHICKEN STUFFED WITH PESTO AND CHEESE
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (use the biggest ones you can find)
1 cup purchased pesto
1 cup packed finely grated white cheese such as mozarella or Monterey Jack
1/3 cup low fat sour cream (do not use fat free)
about 1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
1 cup chicken stock or canned chicken broth
1-2 tsp. Wondra Quick-Mixing Flour (optional)

Preheat oven to 375. In bowl, combine pesto, grated white cheese and sour cream until well combined. In a flat bowl put the 1 cup grated parmesan. Spray 9X13 casserole dish with nonstick spray. Pound chicken breasts to 1/4 inch thickness, or as thin as you can get it, the thinner the better.

(If you're not sure, here's how to do this: Put each chicken breast inside a piece of saran wrap so it is on both sides of chicken and pound on skin side until chicken is an even thickness, just to the point where the chicken would start to break apart. I have a great mallet that I got at Big Lots for $2.00 that I use for this, but you can pound with anything heavy. Don't worry if the chicken "shredding" a little on the edges, you can tuck those in. The thinness is more important than the shape.)

As each piece of chicken is flattened, remove saran wrap, turn chicken over to "ragged side" and spread 1/6 of pesto cheese mixture evenly over that side of chicken (use a rubber scraper to do this). Then roll up each piece end to end, starting with the widest end, rolling as tightly as you can. I found these held together well and did not need a toothpick. Tuck in any loose pieces, and they will stay that way when it cooks. Put each stuffed piece of chicken in the bowl with the parmesan cheese, and press parmesan into the surface of the chicken so it is well coated. Put chicken into casserole dish. (You want to arrange the chicken pieces in a row, with the pieces almost touching on the sides.)

After all chicken pieces are in casserole pour in enough chicken stock to barely cover the bottom of the dish (less than 1/2 cup) and cover casserole tightly with foil. Bake chicken for 30 minutes, then take out of oven and remove foil (The parmesan will be melty looking, but don't worry, you are going to brown it.) Increase oven to 425, put chicken back in oven and bake 15-20 minutes more, until the top of chicken is slightly browned. Don't overcook, but be sure chicken is firm to touch.

When you take the chicken out of the oven you will have a delicious looking combination of stock, bits of pesto, melted cheese and chicken juice in the bottom of the dish. You can serve this over the chicken just like it is, but I made a sauce like this:

Skim off as much fat as you can from top of the liquidy mixture, then pour it into small saucepan and add rest of the cup of chicken stock that you did not use. Bring to simmer for 10 minutes or so, until sauce is slightly reduced and cheese is well melted. Mix flour (depending on how much liquid you have but I used nearly 2 tsp.) with small amount of cold water, then wisk it into sauce and cook until sauce thickens slightly. Pour around chicken and serve.

This recipe is great for any phase of the South Beach Diet, although you might want to make it a "once in a while" treat due to the amount of cheese. For phase one, it would be great with Mary's Perfect Salad or Roasted Broccoli with Garlic. For phase two or three, add something like Georgette's Really Lemony Greek Pilafi.

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