Chicken Breasts With Herb Stuffing

~Leslie~'s Note:

This chicken is a delicious spring-like dish. Use the earliest herbs in your garden or buy your favourite kinds. From Food and Drink Magazine. Hope you enjoy!

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 2 cups baby spinach
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
• ¼ cup chopped fresh chives
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
• 2 tablespoons fresh breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 boneless chicken breasts , skin on

Sauce

• ¼ cup fresh orange juice
• ½ teaspoon grated orange zest
• ¼ cup dry vermouth
• ½ cup whipping cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF.
2. In a food processor or by hand, combine garlic, spinach, parsley, chives, tarragon, bread crumbs, orange zest, orange juice, mustard, salt, pepper and 2 tbsp olive oil. Reserve 1 tbsp oil to fry chicken.
3. Insert a sharp knife into the thick end of each chicken breast and cut a lengthwise pocket 3/4 of the way across chicken breast.
4. Lay breast flat open and spread with about 2 tbsps spinach mixture.
5. Fold breast back together.
6. Season breasts with salt and pepper. Reserve any leftover spinach mixture.
7. Set ovenproof skillet on medium-high heat and add remaining oil.
8. Add chicken, skin-side down and fry until crisp and golden, about 2 minutes.
9. Flip breasts over and place skillet in oven.
10. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until juices run clear.
11. Remove chicken from skillet.
12. Skim any fat and add orange juice, orange zest and vermouth.
13. Bring to boil scraping up any sticky bits on the base of pan.
14. Reduce until syrupy, about 1 minute.
15. Add cream and bring to boil.
16. Stir in reserved spinach mixture.
17. Reduce until slightly thickened.
18. Season to taste.
19. Serve chicken and drizzle with sauce.

Reviews

[Mustang Sally 54269]

This is definately colorful & very tasty... just don't know if it's something I'd serve to company being that the stuffing turns out very green. With that aside we enjoyed the flavours in this dish. I didn't have orange zest so I used lemon pepper (only added 1/2 of what zest called for). I substituted marsala for the vermouth & sour cream/yogurt mix for the cream. I didn't have chicken with skin so I flattened breasts & folded over ends & secured with toothpick. I found I needed to thicken filling with abit more breadcrumbs. I made the mistake of combining all the sauce ingredients... to help fix it I added cornstarch & heated till thickened. Very tasty & tangy, thanks for sharing.

[Gerry]

When you love chicken and herbs this one comes together to make for a wow. I love the taste of tarragon but didn't have fresh so used a bit of the dried and simply used more of the chives and parsley. It was wonderful with the aroma alone worth a five! Thank you for sharing your recipe for this great tasting chicken.

[NcMysteryShopper]

Fabulous!!! I rolled the chicken instead of stuffing it by cutting the chicken in half. The stuffing is so good! I bet basil would be to die for in this recipe! Everyone loved this and I WILL be making this recipe again!! So glad I chose to make this!!! Thanks Leslie! - July 3rd EDITED to Add: I chose this recipe as my top pick from Zaar World Tour 2006!!!