I really don't consider myself a breast man (give me a nice butt or some ribs any day), but given that I had a one on hand, I figured I'd make the most of it. To that end, I pounded it out, stuffed it with cheese, and wrapped it in bacon.
Ingredients:
1 boneless chicken breast
5 slices uncured bacon
2oz cheddar cheese (crumbled)
Step 1: Pound it out
Sandwich your chicken breast between two sheets of plastic wrap. Using a meat mallet, pound the breast, starting from the edges and working your way inwards, until it is about 1/2 inch thick.
Step 2: Stuff it
Spread chunks of cheese over one side and then fold the other side over the top.
Step 3: Bacon it
Lay out several strips of bacon (I used a nice thick-cut). Place your stuffed chicken breast on one end and roll it up in the bacon.
Step 4: Bake it
Wrap the entire breast in aluminum foil and put in a 350 degree oven. Bake for 20 minutes. Unwrap the foil and broil for an additional 5 minutes to crisp up the bacon (you may also wish to flip the breast over and broil the bottom side as well).
Made this last night, sadly all the cheese pretty much ran out, and created a cheese soup within the tinfoil. Wondering if I could grill the chicken, then butterfly and add cheese and wrap it in the bacon and broil to cook bacon, if that would work. These flavours are great together.
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked the flavors but sorry that you ended up with "soup"! Wrapping the chicken in bacon (also called "barding") is what keeps the moisture in, so I would recommend keeping the chicken wrapped in bacon while cooking and then add cheese and broil at the end to melt it. I also wonder if the type of cheese could be adjusted (using a harder aged cheese rather than a soft cheese) would probably keep it much more contained.
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