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Let’s face it, when asking ‘what’s for dinner’ it’s hard to get incredibly excited about hearing the answer ‘chicken.’ It can get just too routine – dull – and frankly, boring. I rarely serve chicken when having company over. It really has to be a stand out recipe. Well, let me introduce you to this perfect little trick to store up your sleeve. Chicken that is all dressed up. It’s sure to impress even your fussiest of guests.
This is another recipe that you can choose to take the longer or shorter route, depending on how your day has gone. You are actually going to be stuffing the chicken with a pesto and cheese spread, so you can go about that by starting in the garden picking the basil to make your own or just simply grab a container at the store. Again, no one is judging you. Repeat after me, ‘I am doing the best that I can.’
Along the side I served roasted lemon asparagus which complimented the chicken perfectly so I wanted to incorporate that (super easy) recipe into this post as well. The meal is pretty light so if you are having ‘big eaters’ over, I’d suggest serving some warm & crusty bread along the side.
Recipe adapted from Rachael Ray- serves 4
Ingredients:
- 4 boneless chicken breasts, butterflied open and pounded to 1/4 inch thick
- 10 basil leaves (skip this and the next 4 ingredients if you are picking up pesto)
- 3 TBS pine nuts
- handful of parsley, chopped
- salt & pepper
- 1 large clove of garlic, chopped
- 5 ounces of goat cheese
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling on top
- olive oil
- 12 slices of vine ripened tomatoes (about 3 tomatoes)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
If making your own pesto combine the basil, parsley, parmesan, salt, pepper, and garlic and process in a food processor until smooth. Add in the goat cheese and a drizzle of olive oil to help it come together. If you are using store bought pesto simply mix with the goat cheese and parmesan and add a bit of olive oil if needed.
Take your butterflied and pounded out chicken breasts and season with salt and pepper. Spread the pesto/cheese mixture evenly over the 4 pieces of chicken. Fold them up and season with more salt & pepper. Top each with 3 tomatoes slices, more parmesan cheese, and a drizzle of olive oil. So cute!
Bake chicken until it’s cooked through and lightly browned, about 20 minutes.
If you’d like to serve it with the asparagus simply toss one bunch of asparagus with olive oil, sea salt, pepper and the juice of one lemon. Roast in the oven at 400 for 8-10 minutes. So, I took out the chicken, covered with foil to let it rest, lowered the oven heat and quickly roasted the asparagus. Everything stayed nice and warm.
Now, who to have over?
Courtney
I love chicken and I love pesto – I will have to try this soon, thanks for the great idea
No problem – I hope you enjoy!
This meal looks delicious and so eye-appealing. The asparagus is a great contrast to the colors of the chicken and tomato slices. I can’t wait to make it!
Thank you Tricia! I hope you and your family enjoy it – let me know how it goes. If you double to pesto it can really stretch into other recipes throughout the week, might be helpful since you work!
That looks great! I LOVE store bought pesto. Ha! I recently blogged about how many different ways you can use it. It is definitely a staple in my fridge and pantry for those nights where I really don’t feel like going overboard! This chicken looks great. I’ll be trying it soon.
Thank you!! Pesto IS great and so versatile – I saved what I didn’t use for this dinner and just had it with tortellini tonight…so easy. I will have to check out your pesto post!