This may not be a new idea for some of you, but it's something I'd never tried until last night. I'm always looking for a different, yet healthful way to cook up some bird that won't bore my family to tears. Yesterday, my son & I were standing in line at Costco. Well, ok. We were standing in line to order a Very Berry Sundae at Costco, when my boy said, "Mom, doesn't that chicken wrap look delicious? It's chicken, cheese & bacon wrapped in bread dough. Mmmmm...bacon..." There's no denying he's my son. Bacon was his food of choice when I was pregnant with him and his love for the stuff has never gone away. We saw a t-shirt at a shop in San Francisco that had a little pig on it with the caption "Praise the Lard". HAHAHAHAHAAA! Amen to that!
It all began in the mortar & pestle. Remember to do this when using dried herbs to help give them a little extra umph & help bring them back from their dry, dusty existence. I put my garlic in there too. The oil from the garlic is wonderful at helping wake up the herbs. Hmm...now what's in that pile? Basil, thyme, onion flakes, peppercorn & kosher salt. Don't pin me down on amounts! I'd venture to guess about a Tbsp each of basil, thyme & dehydrated onion. Maybe a 1/2 tsp of salt and a 1/2 tsp peppercorn along with 4 cloves garlic.
I smash them up really good before drizzling in some olive oil. Yes. Right into the mortar.
Then smash them up a little bit more to get the olive oil soaking into those herbs and flavoring everything really nice. Next, put your chicken breast into a zip lock bag & dump the smashed herb/garlic/oil mixture also.
Once it's in the bag, smoosh out the excess air and seal it up tight because you're gonna pound the chicken really thin and flat. This will help speed up the cooking time and smash those flavors right into the meat. The zip lock bag will keep your hands & your kitchen from having chicken goo on them. Plus you can easily rub the herb mixture all over it. I also take the time to make sure the garlic chunks get embedded into the meat. mmmm...
Make sure you rub it around both sides of the breasts so the flavor is undeniable. Then put it into a hot grill pan to be sure it sizzles good, but not too hot so as to burn the garlic.
While that does it's thing, I cut up some little sweet peppers. I keep these on hand because they are deliciously sweet, easy to cut up for any kind of use & add beautiful color to everything. Wash 'em and slice up.
After you flip the chicken over, add the peppers to the pan. You don't want to over cook them, but keep their color nice and leave them with a little crisp rather than slippery, slimy.
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| At this point, my husband & son both said, "too bad your readers can't smell this!" |
After you've done that, turn your oven on to 350F to preheat. Now, here's where I totally cheated. If I'd had time during the day, I would have made my own dough to make this particularly yummy, but that ain't the way it went. While I was out, I picked up a refrigerated roll of French bread dough. So while my oven was heating and my chickie chickie peppers were finishing off, I opened the can of dough, unrolled it, & spread it out on my 9x13 stone bar pan to get it ready for baking.
Once the chicken was cooked fully through (about 12 minutes total) I took it out and chopped it into small pieces to prepare for rolling.
The rest is a snap - layer the chicken, peppers & a sprinkling of shredded mozzarella over the dough and get it ready to wrap.
Now fold up both sides, tuck under each end, sprinkle a little more cheese on the top & pop it in the oven to bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.
While it's in the oven you can tear up a salad to go along with it. Take it out of the oven, slice & serve it to your lovies. Believe me it will be a hit! It is as yummy as it looks. No food stylists altered this picture to entice you. It's the real deal.
Love the ones you feed!
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