I made these for a family dinner this weekend – we had Ameir’s mom and Ameir’s stepfather over for dinner (and Mom gave me this phenomenal floral blooming tea set that I can’t wait to try. And yes, there will be pictures). The whole dinner, attempting to be mostly low carb, was: this stuffed chicken – spaghetti squash with garlic cherry tomato sauce – grilled asparagus garnished with grilled lemon – grilled eggplant rolled with ricotta, carrots, and olive tamponade – couscous with corn (oop, not low carb) – potatoes (ouch, sorry) and bruschetta with garlic-sundried tomato-herb butter (ouch again). I said mostly low carb.

These were very tender and a fresh change from my usual, heavy, creamy mushroom stuffed chicken. I’m glad that the chicken was still super moist without having to stuff it with bread cubes.

Recipe here:

Stuffed Chicken Florentine
(serves eight)

2 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
4 portobello mushroom caps, gills cleaned and diced
2 big cans (about 1lb each) spaghetti sauce

1. Cut each half breast into two pieces (horizontally). Pound the thinner one out and butterfly the fat, fleshy piece and pound it till its the same as the other piece. Out of each half breast, you should get two big, flat pieces. These are huge, so you can cut each chicken breast half into three pieces instead of two if you want smaller portions. They’d bake for about 30 min instead of 40.

2. Saute the onions and garlic in some oil until soft. Put the drained spinach in and flavor with salt, pepper, and herbs of your choice (dried or fresh). I suggest basil, oregano, and/or rosemary.

3. Remove spinach from the pan. Saute diced portobello until it shrinks a little (salt and pepper it.) Don’t turn it into mush, but it shouldn’t be raw.

4. Salt and pepper the chicken pieces. Lay each flat, and put a good amount of spinach and portobello on each. (you’ll have spinach left over, but not portobello). Fold over or roll and tie closed with butcher’s string.

5. Place the chicken in a baking sheet. Mix the leftover spinach with the tomato sauce and pour it around the pieces. Spoon a couple of tablespoons or more over each piece of chicken, too.

6. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Turn over halfway through cooking and re-baste a little with the sauce. Cut the strings off before serving!

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