Chicken Stuffed with Pesto, Ham, and Fontina Cheese
June 13th, 2011 § 46 Comments
A mulligan, so Wikipedia tells me, is when a player gets a second chance to perform a certain move or action. I gather it’s used mostly in sports.
It’s also used quite frequently in my house.
Daniel does something wrong….”Andie I just need a mulligan. I’m sorry; please let me start over.”
I take a few too many liberties with hot sauce and Daniel’s mouth catches fire at the dinner table. I need a mulligan. And a less extreme personality.
Daniel gets frustrated a moment too soon, abruptly yells at me…he begs for a mulligan.
I do that funny thing I like to do where I lick up that last drippety drop of maple syrup before my love has even opened his eyes on Sunday mornings. I ask for a mulligan and then for him to make a quick trip to Safeway and buy more.
Daniel recants to all our friends about that time I picked up hitchhikers and took them to the police station. He’s going to come calling for a mulligan.
I wake him up no less than four times because all five of my previously recorded episodes of The View are positively bla-ring as I cook straight through Saturday and well into Sunday. I need a mulligan and a sound-proof cooking studio.
Daniel forgets to lower the toilet seat and then smack dab in the middle of night I…well, we all know who needs a mulligan after that.
Both of us.
I get a smidge too feisty before dinner and say things that I [should] regret. I silently ask for a mulligan by serving this chicken dish.
It’s fragrant and rich from the basil pesto, creamy and salty from the cheesy center, and made smoky from the smoked ham.
This chicken couldn’t be boring if she tried. The center stays juicy and moist, flavorful beyond flavorful, from all the savory sweet stuffing.
Oh. And it’s lightly breaded. You know how foods become exponentially more lovable when they’re breaded?
That.
I skipped the whole ‘dip the chicken in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs….’ because, well, it’s a hassle. This dinner, as fancy pants as it sounds, is quick and easy. It makes all ten of those pounds of chicken breast in my freezer more attractive.
Perhaps my best mulligan to date.
Chicken Stuffed with Pesto, Ham, and Fontina Cheese
serves 2
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (~6 ounces each)
2 thick slices smoked ham
1 ounce fontina cheese, grated
2 tablespoons basil pesto
1/2 cup homemade or store-bought seasoned bread crumbs
2 teaspoons olive oil
Butterfly each chicken breast by slicing it thinly open like a book, taking care not to slice completely through both sides of the breast. Evenly distribute the ham, cheese, and pesto among one side of each opened chicken breast. Fold the empty sides over to cover the filling. Dredge each filled chicken breast in a shallow bowl filled with the breadcrumbs. Place them on a greased wire rack set on top of a roasting pan. Lightly brush the tops with the olive oil and bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees F.
HA funny you posted this now because tomorrow night (which is actually tonight because it is Tuesday here but since I can’t sleep yet it means it’s tomorrow still…or something. Maybe I am tired….) oh yeah, back to what I was saying…tomorrow night I was supposed to make your lemon chicken cordon bleu, but this sounds awesome and I might switch it up. Tonight I made your shrimp with the spicy garlic sauce. It was deeeeeelicious! So far, I’m batting a thousand with the CYSFD recipes: two weeks ago the tuna burgers, spicy shrimp tonight, and trying some form of yummy chicken tomorrow, then s’mores pancakes for the husband on Father’s Day. I like food.
This looks delicious! I am currently 29 weeks pregnant with twin boys and have been looking for fantastic meals that weren’t too time consuming or complicated to make. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
This is great Andie. It is mouth-watering. I love your use of pesto it is so flavourful!
Always looking for another twist on stuffed chicken breast, this looks awsome! Like the mulagan idea, The only problem, you’re only aloud 1 on the front 9 and 1 on the back 9. I would need one for every hole (in life that is!)!!
I never would have thought to add pesto to this dish but it looks amazing!
This sounds so good! Way to totally transform boring ol’ chicken breast into something fabulous, but I would expect nothing less coming out of your kitchen obviouslyyyy
Toilet seat comment lol = hilarious!!
Any thing stuffed into a chicken breast is glorious. Fontina, ham, and pesto? It’s like my childhood ham and cheese croissandwiches from school but all grown up. BRAVA!
Haha I love the comment about the toilet seat! This is a bit of a mulligan month for me in terms of recipes. I’m remaking a ton of the ones on my blog that I took ridiculously terrible photos of… my goal is to get through at least 10!
I think my boyfriend would love me forever if I made this for him… it looks amazing!
WANT!!!!!!
What an awesome combo with chicken. Pesto, cheese and chicken together is a God-send. Yum!
Wow…what an amazing recipe! And also, a great post….I need a few mulligans today…and yesterday….and the day before that….
but i digress, i truly look forward to reading your posts because usually they are in line with something going on in my life too.
thanks for being honest. You set a great example for me to follow when I blog!
Take care! B
This looks delicious.
I’d like a mulligan for my life!
I don’t think I’ve ever used fontina in a recipe…I’m going to have to change that very soon!
You crack me up! Your humor is just like mine which I genuinely appreciate.
Plus that chicken looks perfect meal for a date night with my bf.. reminds me of something my Italian mama used to make when I was little, only with prosciutto and mozz instead of ham and fontina.
-Joelle (On A Pink Typewriter)
I would definitely give you a mulligan if you put this in front of me! I adore all of your recipes, but this one so far looks the best to me! Can’t wait to try it out :]
What an amazing dinner!!! Can’t wait to try!
dude! this looks AMAZING!! I have to make this!!!
haha. The toilet seat bit cracks me up. The recipe looks great, though now my lunch seems much less appealing!
you had me at pesto and fontina
these look great – Nick would love it!
the view <3
I love everything about this! I think this will have to go on the menu next week!
goody goody goody, I am going to the store tonight!
YUMM-E
xoxooxxo
If I was a construction worker and this was an attractive young lady crossing the street, I would totally whistle at it.
(Ok, I might have just whistled at my screen. But I’m a sucker for pesto.)
Oh, lovely jubbly! This looks so scrummy!!! (Scrummy is scrumptious + yummy) Going to have to try this soon! BCG
Although I don’t eat pork, this looks amazing. I’m sure if I canceled the ham out it would still be phenomenal.
Things like this make me miss meat. And wish that even if I ate meat, I could manage to successfully cook it. Yup, I’m drooling.
Haha I’ve never heard of a mulligan before, now I will be using it in conversation! Chicken breasts get a bad rep for being boring but you’re right, this dish is anything but!
I have to ask for a mulligan because I don’t cook chicken enough for the husband.
This chicken looks amazing! So much flavor. I love that you say foods become more loveable when breaded… so true!
That first photo made my stomach rumble and it’s 11 p.m. Looks delicious!
I can’t see your posts on bloglovin..one day I just stopped getting them.. it says something about too many redirects =S
Andie shoots… and Andie Scores!!!
[...] Ty & I got into a silly little fight last night while talking on the phone after work. I couldn’t even really tell you what about. It was that important. I thought of Andie and when he walked through the door once he got home, I asked for a mulligan. [...]
Wow does that picture scram “EAT ME NOW!” Absolutely mouthwatering! I would excuse anything if they served me this. And YAY your recipe is for two which is…perfect!
This looks like chicken cordon bleu’s cool older cousin that it wishes it could be more like. Sooo delicious sounding! Fresh pesto would make it eeeeven better–though I bet you used that, right?
I learned about a mulligan the day you posted this, how bizarre! I was helping out at my company’s charity golf tournament!
OMG I made these Friday night for the bf and anyone else at his house who was interested… would you believe they put in a request for it again today for father’s day!? SO delish and awesome… love it!
Excellent now I know what I am going to do with my left over pesto! This sounds so yummy!
Yum!! These were great! Another addition to the recipe binder for sure!
hi!
do you have the nutritional info for this recipe! looks delicious…
Here’s nutritional info (taken from nutritiondata.com, caveats all around) with a slice of smoked ham (3 oz, I think that sounds right?): 580 cals, 20 g fat, 119 g carbs, 77 g protein.
What I’m making tonight is a slightly modified version of this (this recipe crossed with the cordon bleu a bit?). I’m using prosciutto instead of thick ham, adding some dijon, and using just a light schmear of basil pesto and the nutrition info looks like this: 354 cals, 14 g fat, 31 g carbs, 50 g protein. This way I can still have one of Andie’s 100 calorie chocolate cupcakes for dessert, too.
I have loved every.recipe.I’ve.tried. Loved.
[...] or just make this [...]
This was really good. I used chicken breasts that were too thick and had to cook double the time to get interior cooked, even though I butterflied them. I am not sure what planet these organic chickens grow on because the breasts are huge!
Next time I will buy cutlets and just stack them or will pound the heck out of the breasts to get them really thin. But we liked the taste a lot!
Does anyone have any good suggestions for just cooking plain chicken breasts so that they stay moist? It seems that when I cook then on the stovetop they get dried out, but my temp/timing just might be off. I only cook for one, and chicken is a huge staple. Somehow I just have not quite figured it out yet though. Any help?
[...] Edited from CanYouStayForDinner.com [...]
[...] Recipe and image from Can you stay for dinner? [...]