French Style Stuffed Chicken Breasts

I've recently discovered that stuffing chicken breasts is a great way to to add flavor and moisture to boneless skinless chicken breasts. Before this recipe, I'd only stuffed chicken with cheese and herbs. This recipe is unique in that the tenderloins of the chicken breasts are ground and mixed in with the rest of the filling which adds moisture and helps bind the filling to the chicken. The result is really quite delicious.

Also, the pan sauce created from the braising liquid and deglazing the pan really elevates the dish to a new level. I've never really taken the time to make pan sauces to go with my protein main courses before, but after this experience I think I need to make it a more regular occurrence.

One quick warning. While this recipe isn't technically difficult, it is quite time consuming. I foolishly decided to attempt this dish on a weeknight and after 2.5 hours, we finally sat down for dinner at 9:30pm. Needless to say we were quite hungry. So do yourself a favor and save this for a weekend night when you have plenty of time on your hands.

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French Style Stuffed Chicken Breasts


Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 8 ounce package sliced baby bella mushrooms
1 small leek, white part halved lengthwise and chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
1/2 cup chardonnay
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Instructions
Remove the tenderloins from the chicken breasts and set aside. Using a sharp knife, butterfly the breasts lengthwise, cutting almost all the way through.

Place the butterflied chicken breasts between sheets of wax paper and pound the chicken to about a 1/2 inch thickness.

Trim about 1 1/2 inches from the long side of the chicken and add to the tenderloins. Place the tenderloins and trimmed chicken to the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to grind. Remove the ground chicken and place in a medium bowl.

To make the stuffing, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a large skillet and cook until all the moisture has evaporated and the mushrooms are brown, about 10 minutes.

Add an additional tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and add the leeks and saute until softened, about 4 minutes.

Add the garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Transfer the mixture to the bowl of the food processor and pulse until the ingredients are chopped.

Add the mixture to the bowl with the ground chicken and add the parsley, Parmesan, salt, and pepper and stir to fully combine.

Pour the wine into the skillet used to cook the veggies and return the pan to the heat to deglaze the pan and remove the browned bits. Transfer the liquid to a small bowl and set aside.

Take one of the chicken breasts and lay it flat, placing a quarter of the filling along the seam.

Roll the breast up and secure with twine or toothpicks. Repeat with the remaining chicken breasts. Season each breast with salt and pepper.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in the same skillet used earlier over medium high heat and brown the chicken breasts on all sides for about 2 minutes per side.

After browning, pour in the chicken broth and reserved wine mixture to the pan with chicken and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to low and cover, simmering until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 160 degrees, about 18 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the skillet and let rest covered with foil.

While the chicken is resting, whisk in the mustard in with the cooking liquid.

Increase the heat to a high simmer and scrape the browned bits from the chicken off the bottom of the pan. Simmer for 10 minutes until the liquid has reduced to about a 1/2 cup.

When the sauce is done, cut the breasts into slight diagonal pieces and pour the sauce over the chicken.

Source: Adapted from Annie's Eats