Goat Cheese-&-Olive-Stuffed Chicken Breasts
The hard part of making this elegant dish is choosing the filling. Making a pocket in the chicken breast to hold the stuffing is easy, particularly if you use a good, sharp, thin-bladed knife. Browning the chicken in a skillet before baking gives it a beautiful golden color. Finishing it in the oven ensures that it cooks evenly throughout.
From EatingWell: Winter 2004, The Essential EatingWell Cookbook (2004)
Yield: 4 servings
Active Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons creamy goat cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped black olives
- Freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, (1-1 1/4 pounds total)
- 1 large egg white
- 1/2 cup plain dry breadcrumbs
- 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
- Combine goat cheese, olives and pepper in a small bowl with a fork.
- Cut a horizontal slit along the thin, long edge of a chicken breast half, nearly through to the opposite side. Open up each breast and place one-fourth of the filling in the center. Close the breast over the filling, pressing the edges firmly together to seal. Repeat with the remaining chicken breasts and filling.
- Lightly beat egg white with a fork in a medium bowl. Place breadcrumbs in a shallow glass dish. Hold each chicken breast half together and dip in the egg white, then dredge in the breadcrumbs. (Discard leftovers.)
- Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts; cook until browned on one side, about 2 minutes. Place the chicken, browned-side up, on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until the chicken is no longer pink in the center or until an instant-read thermometer registers 170°F, about 20 minutes.
Nutrition Per serving:
235 calories; 7 g fat (2 g sat, 3 g mono); 72 mg cholesterol; 10 g carbohydrates; 1 g added sugars; 31 g protein; 1 g fiber; 248 mg sodium; 341 mg potassium.
1/2 Carbohydrate Serving
Exchanges: 1/2 starch, 4 lean meat, 1/2 fat
