Artichoke and Sun-Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breast

This recipe gets an award for the longest name as well as the unique tastes.  I discovered this recipe on the Foodnetwork.com web site earlier this month and printed a copy so I could make it at some point.  On a recent trip to the store, I picked up the required marinated sun-dried tomatoes and for chicken breasts for when I wanted to make the recipe.

I decided to make the Artichoke and Sun-Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breast for dinner a few nights ago.  Before I started to cook, I gathered all the necessary ingredients and hardware for the meal.  I started by chopping 1/2 of a red onion (which is about 1/2-cup worth).  I also chopped the 3/4-cup of marinated artichoke hearts and the 1/2-cup marinated sun-dried tomatoes.

I heated my small saucepan on medium heat and added about a tablespoon of grape seed oil and then added the onions to sauté until they were about half cooked.  Then I added the chopped artichokes and tomatoes into the pan with the onions to cook for five minutes.  This mixture not only looked really delicious, but it also tasted delicious.

I added the salt, pepper, and minced garlic to the mixture, then added the 1 /4-cup of white wine and deglazed the bottom of the pan.  I added the two-tablespoons of butter and let it melt, then I removed the pan from the heat and added the 1/4-cup of Parmesan cheese and 1/2-tablespoon and dried parsley leaves.  I set the pan aside to cool while I flattened the chicken.

The next step is to pound the chicken breasts flat to about 1/2-inch in thickness.  I did this in the garage by placing each chicken breast in a plastic bag, setting it on my workbench and then beating it with a rolling pin until it was the correct thickness.

Back in the kitchen, I placed 1/4 of the stuffing mixture on one end of each flattened chicken breast then rolled the breast around the stuffing and pinned each breast closed with several toothpicks.  The next step is to brown the chicken breast rolls in a pan, I tried using the small sauce pan but it was too small for all four chicken breasts, I traded up to my larger pan and browning in some more grape seed oil the chicken rolls turning them every few minutes.

I could have spent more time browning the chicken on all sides, but I did get it very lightly browned on almost all the sides.  I added the other 1/4-cup of white wine and the last tablespoon of butter to the pan, covered the pan and cooked the chicken for about fifteen minutes until my temperature probe registered 165 degrees in the center of the stuffing.

I let the chicken sit for a few minutes and then sliced it per the recipe into five pieces that I transferred to the plates for dinner.  I poured some of the sauce over the top of the chicken.  We were going to have some brown rice to accompany the chicken, but when I went to the refrigerator to get some leftover rice to heat, I found that what I thought was rice was a cooked cereal.  So we just had sliced carrot sticks with the chicken.

The chicken was very moist and tender and the stuffing was excellent.  We so enjoyed the stuffing from this recipe, that I am planning to make a variation on this recipe in the future.  I will double the stuffing ingredients and then use it as a sauce over some pan cooked chicken and rice.  It should be great!

Get the recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/artichoke-and-sun-dried-tomato-stuffed-chicken-breast-recipe/index.html

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell