Baked Chicken Stuffed with Pesto and Cheese

I got this recipe off of Trisha Cannon's blog and it sounded so good I had to post it. If anyone tries it out this week let me know how it tastes. I'm going to try to do it too.


6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 cup pesto

1 cup packed finely grated mozerella cheese

1/3 cup low fat sour cream (not fat free, use low fat)

about 1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

1 cup chicken stock or canned chicken broth

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Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, combine pesto, mozerella cheese and sour cream until well combined. In a flat bowl put the parmesan cheese. Spray 9x13 pan dish with nonstick spray. Pound chicken breasts to 1/4 inch thickness, or as thin as you can get it, the thinner the better.

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As each piece of chicken is flattened, spread 1/6 of pesto cheese mixture evenly over one side of the chicken. then roll up eack piece end to end, starting with the widest end, rolling as tightly as you can. Tuck in any loose ends, you can use toothpicks to help if you need to (it won't look perfect, no worries). Coat each piece of stuffed chicken into the parmesan cheese. Put chicken into casserole dish (arrange pieces in a row, with pieces almost touching the sides).

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Pour enough chicken stock to barely cover the bottom of the dish (less than 1/2 cup) and cover tightly with foil. Bake chicken for 30 minutes, then remove foil. Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake for 15-20 more minutes, until the top of chicken is slightly browned. Don't overcook.

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When you take the chicken out you will have a yummy looking combo of stock, pesto and cheese in the bottom of the dish. You can serve the chicken just like it is, or you can make this creamier sauce.

Sauce:

Pour liquid from pan into a saucepan and add the rest of the chicken stock that you didn't use. Bring to simmer for 10 minutes or so, until sauce is slightly reduced and cheese is melted. Mix flour (I only used about 2 tsp) with a small amt of cold water, then wisk it into the sauce until sauce thickens.

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We just poured the sauce over the chicken, but I think next time I might cook up a little wheat pasta to serve the sauce over with the chicken!