Pesto Chicken Roll-ups

Mon, Oct 1, 2012

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I had some leftover pistou after a recent batch so I decided to experiment with a chicken dish. In this chicken cordon bleu -inspired chicken, the chicken is stuffed with pistou/pesto, artichoke hearts, feta cheese and roasted red peppers. Ham could even be rolled up into the mix. I will definitely be making this again and pesto could easily be substituted if you have that instead. I actually ate this healthy dish plain but to complete the meal you could serve it over many things such as spinach salad, quinoa tossed with cherry tomatoes, or pasta.

Pesto Chicken Roll-ups

Author: Itsy Bitsy Foodies

Recipe type: Main Dish

Prep time: 40 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 1 hour

Serves: 4

In this cordon bleu-inspired chicken, the chicken is stuffed with pistou/pesto, artichoke hearts, feta cheese and roasted red peppers.

Ingredients

Pistou

4 cups basil leaves
2 garlic cloves
¼ cup chicken broth
1 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp olive oil

Pesto

Roughly ½ cup basil leaves, washed and patted dry
Roughly ½ cup spinach leaves, loosely packed
¼ cup Romano or pecorino cheese, grated
¼ cup pine nuts
2 Tbsp olive oil
1-2 garlic cloves, minced

Pesto Chicken Roll-ups

Chicken tenders or chicken breasts cut in half lengthwise
Pesto or pistou
Artichoke hearts, chopped
Roasted red peppers in strips
Feta cheese crumbles
½ cup plain breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 Tbsp milk
1 tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp salt
Dash of black pepper
Dash of cayenne pepper, optional
¼ tsp thyme
1 Tbsp Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Pistou

Mix all of the ingredients in a blender until smooth.
Store the sauce in a sealed container in the refrigerator or freezer.

Pesto

In a blender, blend the cheese and the pine nuts for a few seconds.
Drizzle in the olive oil and blend the mixture until it is smooth.
Add the garlic and then the basil and the spinach, a little at a time, blending until smooth.
Use the pesto sauce immediately or refrigerate it or freeze it in a sealed container.

Pesto Chicken Roll-ups

Pound the chicken breasts until they are very thin.
Spread pistou/pesto down the center of the breast and then top with roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts and feta cheese.
Roll up the chicken breast as tightly as possible and fasten the roll together with a toothpick.
Beat an egg with 1 Tbsp milk in a shallow bowl.
In another shallow bowl, mix the breadcrumbs with the garlic powder, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, thyme and Parmesan cheese.
Dip each rolled chicken breast into the egg and then dredge it in the breadcrumb mixture.
Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet lightly coated with cooking spray.
Bake them at 375 degrees for roughly 10 minutes on each side, until the chicken is cooked all the way through.