Italian Ham-and-Cheese-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

A browned chicken breast with Muenster cheese oozing out and look closely, there's ham peeking at you.

Here's a recipe from an older copy of Cooking Pleasures magazine. I avoided it because of the cheese, but recently read the recipe and saw the dairy quantity wasn't really too much. The original recipe called for four breasts, but I only thawed two so cut the recipe about in half. Because deli ham would make good sandwiches for lunch, it won out over prosciutto as the stuffing in the chicken. And only out of forgetfulness did I skip the wine deglaze part at the end. If you remember to do this, your boobs will probably be even better in appearance as well as flavor. I'm kicking myself.

Italian Ham-and-Cheese-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 tbsp minced fresh Italian parsley
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 slice Muenster cheese (about 1/2 oz.), halved
2 thin slices prosciutto or deli ham
1/8 tsp salt
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tbsp olive oil
1/8 cup dry white wine, Marsala or chicken broth

Slice chicken breasts horizontally without cutting all the way through; open so breasts are flat. Place between 2 pieces of plastic wrap; pound gently with flat side of meat mallet or rolling pin.

In small bowl, stir together parsley and mustard; spread over half of each chicken breast.

Top each with half slices of cheese and ham.

Fold breasts to enclose stuffing, pressing edges together to seal. Sprinkle with salt. Place flour on plate; dip chicken in flour, tapping to remove excess.

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot.

Add chicken; cook 6 to 10 minutes or until golden brown, no longer pink in center and juices run clear. Place on serving platter.

Just as I feared it would, a good quantity of the cheese oozed out of the breasts and sizzled away in the skillet.

Increase heat to medium-high. Add wine to skillet; cook 30 to 60 seconds or until slightly reduced, stirring to scrape up any browned bits from bottom of skillet. Pour over chicken.

Even having forgotten the last step, the deglazing pan juice part, this chicken was good. I bet it'd be even better with the pan juice, but for some reason, I always, always, always forget the saucy part whether it be for steaks or ribs or chicken. The realization usually comes right after we eat. Doh! I'm going to have to try this recipe again with the intention of including all the steps.

The recipe is quite simple; the most difficult part is slicing the chicken open evenly and stopping myself from smashing the chicken into smithereens. Pounding on meat with a rolling pin is sort of fun.

Cost:

• chicken breasts: $1.60
• Italian parsley: $0.33/bunch
• Muenster cheese: $0.25
• deli ham: $0.25

Total: $2.43, but I'll round up to $3 to include flour and salt and all that other stuff, making each breast about $1.50. That's not bad for a fancy-ish chicken breast.

We had our Ham-and-Cheese-Stuffed Breasts with Herbed New Potatoes and Swiss Chard.

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