It’s something special with melting Mozzarella. For some reason melting mozzarella looks a little tastier than other melting cheese. I cant’ really explain why. One thing is sure. The Italians knew what they did when they started to put mozzarella on their pizzas.
Sometimes it’s enough to read a recipe that includes melting mozzarella for me to get a silly facial expression. A staring gaze, half-open mouth and dangerously near to start drooling. I feel the famous “I just have to test this recipe” feeling.
That’s what happened when I found this recipe on RecipeTin Eats.
Of course, I changed it a bit. I normally always do. Mostly because I want to customize it to my liking, but also because I have that constant question in my head. What happens if I do like this instead? You have to be curious when cooking. Otherwise, it will be boring.
I didn’t change this recipe that much. I choose to marinate the chicken breasts for a few hours, in my Italian marinade. As an extra touch, I also wrapped a slice of extra smokey barbecue bacon around everything. An alternative might be to use pancetta instead. Then you get a milder and maybe a little more typical Italian flavor.
Sundried tomatoes are superb for flavoring. You can’t replace it with anything else. But everybody has sundried tomatoes in the fridge nowadays, aren’t they?
Spinach may be substituted with a variety of different lettuce varieties suitable for cooking. Think Rucola, Pak soi, Romaine lettuce, etc.
I added some basil as well. I also tucked in a small sprig of Rosemary under bacon slice, mostly as decoration.
Og course you can’t replace the mozzarella with any other type of cheese. You hear that? Don’t even think about it.
The recipe is ridiculously easy. Marinate the chicken breasts for a few hours. Cut a pocket into each chicken breast and fill it with tomato, mozzarella, and spinach/basil leaves. Sear the chicken breasts for a few minutes on each side, and insert them in the oven. After 15-20 minutes, it’s ready.
The cooking time in the oven depends on the size of the chicken breasts. Now, you have to be a bit careful when cooking lean meat like chicken breasts. If you leave them in the oven for too long, they will be dry. Let’s face it. Dry chicken meat is not very exciting.
Raw chicken meat, on the other hand, can be very exciting. If you like to risk your health, that will say.
Always be sure to reach an inner temperature of 162ºF /72ºC in the thickest part of the breast.
But what if you don’t have a thermometer. Then you have to make a traditional test. Poke a skewer into the thickest part of the chicken breast. Remove the skewer and observe the juice coming out. I must be clear with no signs of pink.
There are endless variations of cheese filled chicken breasts. Why? Because it’s easy to make and requires a minimum of side dishes. Some roasted potato wedges and grilled bell pepper is just one suggestion.
You don’t need any sauce for this dish. The oil from the tomatoes, blended with juices from the meat and melted mozzarella is enough. But a small dab of pesto would probably suit just fine.
And don’t listen to what I said earlier. Of course, you can use other types of cheese. I have actually tried one variant with ricotta. But that’s another story in another blog post.
See you soon.
Chicken breast stuffed with sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella, an spinach
Ingredients
- 4 pieces small chicken breasts
- 8 pieces sun-dried tomatoes cut in small pieces.
- 2 pieces mozzarella cut in thin slices
- A handful spinach leaves
- 2 tablespoon olive oil for frying
- 4 slices of bacon or pancetta
- Optional basil and rosemary or any other herbs to your liking.
- Salt and pepper
Dressing
- 3.5 tablespoon cane sugar
- 2 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 4 tablespoon white wine
- 4 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoon paprika powder
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients for the dressing and marinate the chicken breasts for a few hours.
- Preheat oven to 390ºF / 200ºC.
- Cut a pocket into the chicken breasts. be careful not to cut all the way through.
- Stuff with sun-dried tomatoes. put the mozzarella on top and finish with spinach.
- Wrap around with bacon slices and seal with toothpicks.
- Sear the chicken in olive oil for a minute on each side to get som nice golden color.
- Transfer to oven and cook for 15-20 minutes or until it's cooked through.