Stuffed and Wrapped Chicken Breast Recipe

Occasionally the hubby has a craving for something ... unusual.  He knows that when it comes to cooking I LOVE a challenge, and he will start out by saying, "I don't know if you can make this, but..."  And thus begins another one of my cooking adventures!

The poor guy ended up being sick on Valentine's Day so it was rather a non-event; therefore, no special meal -- we usually eat at home on this day and go out another day since neither one of us like crowds.  But he felt better by yesterday morning and had a special request.  He had seen something similar to this at a deli, and wanted me to make it with (of course) a few tweaks to the recipe.  The above picture shows the finished product of my little experiment, and since I have not made anything exactly like this previously I decided to blog it (for my own failing memory's sake!).

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

ricotta cheese

baby spinach

bacon

salt and pepper

1.  Preheat oven to 375F

2.  Butterfly cut the chicken breasts and beat with a meat mallet until chicken is uniformly 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick.  Dust inside with salt and pepper.



3.  Add some baby spinach leaves to the right hand third of the chicken breast.



4.  Add 3 spoonfuls of ricotta cheese and dust with salt and pepper.



5.  Place a few more baby spinach leaves on top and roll chicken breast tightly.



6.  Wrap chicken breast in strips of bacon and affix shut with wooden toothpicks.





7.  Place in a covered dish and bake for 1 hour at 375F.  After 1 hour, uncover and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes at 400F.

8.  Remove from dish and allow to cool for 3 to 5 minutes before slicing.  Serve with mashed potatoes and Caesar salad.

Servings: 2 to 4

*Notes*

• The number of servings depends on the size of the chicken breasts.  My husband and I like to eat a lot; however, we each only ate half of one prepared chicken breast.
• The amount of salt and pepper may seem exaggerated, but both spinach and ricotta cheese require quite a bit of salt in order to taste them.
• The chicken breast is not seasoned on the outside because the bacon adds enough flavour and saltiness.