Broiled Chicken Breasts Topped with Artichoke Hearts and Sun-dried Tomatoes

While pondering what to make for dinner with some chicken breasts that I had thawed from the freezer, I remembered Artichoke and Sun-Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breast that I wrote about on May 18, 2010.  I said that I might make it just as an accompaniment to the chicken.  That is what I decided to do for this dinner.

Topping Ingredients:
   2 Tablespoons butter
   1 white onion, chopped
   2 cloves garlic, minced
   1 1/2-cups marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
   1/2-cup marinated sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
   1 teaspoon dried parsley
   1/2-cup white wine

I started by melting the butter in a large frying pan and adding the onion.  I was going to use the rest of the red onion like the original recipe, but when I got it out of the refrigerator, it was moldy, so I just used a white onion instead.  I sautéed the onions for several minutes until they were translucent.

While the onions cooked, I turned on the oven to broil at 550 degrees.  I got out our roaster pan and lightly oiled the bottom, then placed the four chicken breasts on the pan.  I gave each chicken breast a light brushing with oil then put them in the oven on the top rack for five minutes.

I added the garlic, artichoke hearts, and sundried tomatoes to the onions and continued to cook the mixture on medium heat.  I opened the oven door to check on the chicken and stood back as the clouds of smoke rolled out the door.  Oops, the smoke point of the grape seed oils is around 485 degrees.  I opened the doors and windows and turned the oven down to 450, turned the chicken over and set it to bake for another five minutes.

After five minutes, I removed the chicken from the oven and set it on top of the stove.  I added the white wine and the dried parsley to the pan of onion, artichoke hearts, and sun-dried tomatoes and let it heat and mix with the oils from the marinated vegetables to make a sauce.

I served the chicken accompanied by some hot rice and the onion/artichoke hearts/sun-dried tomato topping.  This easy to make topping really enhanced the visual and flavor when eating a plain chicken breast.

This was an easy dinner to make taking about fifteen minutes.  Next time I will start the broiler at 450 degrees and save having to air out the house.  It’s a good thing we don’t have a smoke detector in our kitchen/family room.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

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