Stuffed Chicken Breast Wrapped in Prosciutto at Emily C.'s

So this past Sunday we found ourselves dining at our friends Emily and RJ's house and on the menu was stuffed chicken breast to be washed down with a couple bottles of wine.  Since I didn't really do anything besides eat and drink, I thought it was only fair to let Emily talk about the food herself.  Enjoy.

I’ve known Jason for over 10 years, and it’s always been my lifelong dream to cook him and his girlfriend
dinner so he can steal credit for his own blogging glory. Okay so half of that is true, but given the fact
that I’m lucky to live near some of my oldest and closest friends, I’ve tried to make a conscious effort to
see them more (at least outside of the bar).

And what better way to do that than to share my own love of cooking. So on a nice Sunday evening,
Jason and Lisa ventured to West New York (with 2 bottles of wine!) to spend a long overdue meal
catching up and trying out one of my fan-favorite dishes- Chicken stuffed with Basil, Mozzarella, and
wrapped in Prosciutto. The fresh basil leaves combined with melty cheese and the crispy prosciutto
do all the right things together. And when paired with a balanced red wine, fresh spinach salad with
balsamic and some warm roasted garlic bread, do I really need to sell you on this more? See how it’s
done after the jump.

One of the best parts about this recipe is that it only contains 4 ingredients- don’t get me wrong, I love
to cook with a lot of unique flavors and try out new things, but sometimes you just want something
simple but still tasty.

Sizzle baby sizzle.

A few pro-tips before you get started… Make sure when you get chicken breasts at the grocery
store, you get normal medium-large boneless skinless breasts, not the ‘thin sliced’ or ‘tender breast
strips’. Since you’ll be cramming delicious herbs and cheese into them, you want to find ones that
can withstand getting ripped into a little bit. Additionally, when you’re prepping the chicken, find the
thickest part of the breast to slice into and work slowly, you want to try and avoid cutting through to the
bottom or through to the other side.

Cured Italian meat and melted cheese can feel a little heavy, so the light salad was a nice break every once in a while between bites.

Also treat yo’self and snag some fresh basil leaves, not the dried stuff, otherwise the dish won’t have
the same level of freshness and moisture. Any type of mozzarella is fine - I used fresh sliced as well as a
provolone mozzarella blend I had on hand to add some additional flavor.

One note about the prosciutto- you need about 3-4 pieces to wrap around each chicken breast.
Prosciutto is usually very thinly sliced and delicate, so you need to be careful while doing wrapping the
chicken so you cover up the pocket (otherwise it will spill out when you’re cooking). I suggest wrapping
the prosciutto in somewhat of a criss-cross pattern around the chicken breast. Most slices won’t wrap all
the way around, so just make sure you cover the pocket and you should be fine.

Gratuitous melted cheese cross-section shot

Ingredients (Yield: 4 servings)

-4 medium-large boneless skinless chicken breasts
-Handful of fresh basil leaves (rinsed and ends trimmed)
-Fresh mozzarella (I usually buy one of the $6-7 balls at the store, can never have too much right?)
-1/4 lb deli sliced or pre-packaged prosciutto (if you’re getting from the deli, ask for about 16
slices)
-Extra Virgin Olive Oil
-Salt and Pepper
-Balsamic (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cut a lengthwise pocket in the thickest part of each chicken breast almost all the way through
(similar to a hot dog bun). With your knife, carve/scrape out some of the chicken inside the
pocket to make more room for stuffing.
3. Season chicken breasts well with salt and pepper inside and out.
4. Layer the basil and mozzarella evenly inside each pocket being careful to not tear the chicken.
5. Wrap 3-4 slices of prosciutto around each breast to hold it closed, then brush/rub both sides
with olive oil.
6. Heat a pan to medium-high heat and sear each chicken breast for 3-4 minutes on each side
prosciutto gets slightly brown and crispy.
7. Transfer chicken breasts to glass oven dish and bake uncovered for 13-16 minutes or until
browned and cooked through.
8. Drizzle with balsamic (optional, but a great way to balance the savory/salty prosciutto) and
enjoy!

Pretty nice view to end the night with.