Editor’s Note: Each Monday, the Two College Foodies will share their secrets for easy yet delicious recipes to get you through the week, and on Friday’s they’ll get you ready for the weekend by scouting the best options in town for dining out with friends and family.
Ciao my friends! Let me tell you something about myself, I love chicken! It’s frugal, versatile, and can easily be transformed into an incredible meal. This chicken dinner is no exception.
This dish is something I've been craving, and so I couldn't help getting in the kitchen and whipping these babies up. Now, I adore goat cheese, I love the tang and strong flavor it has. A lot of people serve it in salads or appetizers, but I like to actually cook with it. And what better to combine it with but chicken? These Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts are the perfect dish to make when entertaining. For very few ingredients and barely any work, you get a 5 star restaurant meal that will impress everyone.
A couple things about this dish. I use boneless chicken breasts with the skin on. It is very rare to find chicken breasts like this. So, I pick out the breasts I want and kindly ask the butcher to remove the bones while keeping the skin attached. Don’t be shy, they hear this request more than you think.
Now, roasting chicken that is not on the bone can often result in a dried out piece of chicken, which I just can’t accept. So, I have a little trick for keeping the breasts nice and moist despite their boneless make-up. I place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and pop it in the oven. In the oven on the rack under the breasts, I place a baking dish half filled with water. The water will slowly evaporate and create a humid environment for the chicken to cook in. This keeps the breasts moist and juicy. You can employ this technique for a number of different things but definitely use it here.
Here’s a few other helpful tips for this dish:
1. Get the goat cheese from Trader Joe’s. They sell a larger amount for very little cost.
2. 2. This dish pairs great with a roasted vegetables and some kind of pasta or rice. Tonight, I served the chicken alongside roasted eggplant and Middle Eastern cous cous. Those will both get a spot in the blog at a later date.
I hope you find this dish to be something you can easily make to feed the people you love the most. After all, to me that is what cooking is all about. Sure, it can be about satisfying your cravings, but it’s really about bringing the people you love together to share in a simple pleasure. You are guaranteed to enjoy this dish, so make it for people you enjoy as well. Bon Apetito!
Ingredients to serve four people:
4 chicken breasts, boneless, skin on (the butcher can take the bone out for you and leave the skin on)
1 8-10 oz. log of Garlic and Herb Goat Cheese
8 large basil leaves
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Place chicken breasts on a baking sheet. Loosen the skin but make sure it stays attached. Place two ½ inch disks of goat cheese under the skin on each breast and then 2 large basil leaves. Pull the skin back down so that it covers the cheese and basil. Drizzle with the olive oil. Liberally add salt and pepper.
Place in the oven. Underneath the chicken’s rack, place a 9x13 inch-baking dish half filled with water to make sure the chicken breasts stay moist. Bake for about 35-40 minutes, until the skin is browned. In the last 5 minutes of cooking, sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Plate, serve, and enjoy!
