Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken

Stuffed with Ricotta and Spinach

Serves 4

Spice up your regular “chicken for dinner” routine with this stuffed chicken dish. It’s a decadent twist on chicken breast that looks impressive, but is actually pretty easy to prepare.  Make this for your family to spice up your midweek dinner rut, because making a meal should be fun, not stressful.
Ingredients:
1-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
10 oz. fresh spinach, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
1/2 cup shredded whole milk mozzarella cheese
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 4), butterflied*
about 1 teaspoon salt
about 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
4-8 slices prosciutto, thinly sliced
Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 450*F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large skillet, heat about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and saute the spinach until wilted.
3.  Stir together the spinach, garlic, ricotta cheese, and mozzarella cheese and set aside.
4.  Sprinkle the top and bottom of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper.  Fill the center of each breast with 2-3 tablespoons of the spinach/cheese mixture, being careful not to overfill, and fold back up.
5. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat and carefully sear the chicken (using tongs to flip it so it doesn’t fall apart).  It will take about 5 minutes per side for a good sear.  (Be careful not to overcrowd the pan.  It will likely take two batches, cooking no more than 3 breasts at a time.)
6.  Wrap each cooked breast with 1-2 slices of prosciutto to make sure it holds together.  Place each wrapped breast on the parchment lined baking sheet, preferably seam side down.
7. Place the baking sheet in the center of the oven and bake for approximately 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink.
8. Allow the chicken to rest for 10 minutes and serve warm.
Notes:
*To Butterfly a chicken breast:
Slice the breast in half lengthwise:
Lay the breast on your cutting board flat and trim off the tenderloin if it’s still attached. (The tenderloin is the smaller pieces you see pictured and also butterflied).
Press your free hand gently on top of the breast (palm down, fingers up) to hold it in place.  Take your knife hand and holding the knife horizontally, slice through the center of the breast (right to left or left to right depending on which hand you hold the knife with) to cut it into a top and a bottom half.  Try to leave a small connection between the top and bottom half so when you open it up it looks like a “butterfly”.
If after you butterfly the breasts, they still seem a little thick, you can place them in plastic wrap, or a plastic bag and pound them down to 1/4″ thickness.  You shouldn’t have to do this to most of them.

 

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Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken
 
Sherri:
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Ingredients
  • 1-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
  • 10 oz. fresh spinach, roughly chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • ½ cup whole milk ricotta cheese
  • ½ cup shredded whole milk mozzarella cheese
  • 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 4), butterflied*
  • about 1 teaspoon salt
  • about ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
  • 4-8 slices prosciutto, thinly sliced
Directions
  1. Preheat your oven to 450*F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. In a large skillet, heat about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and saute the spinach until wilted.
  3. Stir together the spinach, garlic, ricotta cheese, and mozzarella cheese and set aside.
  4. Sprinkle the top and bottom of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper.  Fill the center of each breast with 2-3 tablespoons of the spinach/cheese mixture, being careful not to overfill, and fold back up.
  5. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat and carefully sear the chicken (using tongs to flip it so it doesn't fall apart).  It will take about 5 minutes per side for a good sear.  (Be careful not to overcrowd the pan.  It will likely take two batches, cooking no more than 3 breasts at a time.)
  6. Wrap each cooked breast with 1-2 slices of prosciutto to make sure it holds together.  Place each wrapped breast on the parchment lined baking sheet, preferably seam side down.
  7. Place the baking sheet in the center of the oven and bake for approximately 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink.
  8. Allow the chicken to rest for 10 minutes and serve warm.
  9. Notes:
  10. *To Butterfly a chicken breast:
  11. Slice the breast in half lengthwise:
  12. Lay the breast on your cutting board flat and trim off the tenderloin if it's still attached. (The tenderloin is the smaller pieces you see pictured and also butterflied).
  13. Press your free hand gently on top of the breast (palm down, fingers up) to hold it in place.  Take your knife hand and holding the knife horizontally, slice through the center of the breast (right to left or left to right depending on which hand you hold the knife with) to cut it into a top and a bottom half.  Try to leave a small connection between the top and bottom half so when you open it up it looks like a "butterfly".
  14. If after you butterfly the breasts, they still seem a little thick, you can place them in plastic wrap, or a plastic bag and pound them down to ¼" thickness.  You shouldn't have to do this to most of them.