Bertolli Fontina and Bacon Stuffed Chicken Breast

I am in the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, and I will sometimes get emails about products they want people to try. I don't like to be greedy so I told myself I would only opt in to get a product if I really wanted to try it. Well this Bertolli sauce was definitely one I wanted to try. I absolutely love Bertolli products and have never had a bad experience with them. So when I got a box in the mail with this sauce I absolutely took a second to do a happy dance in the kitchen.

Included in the package were some recipe ideas. I wasn't quite sure what to make, when the fiance pointed to this one. Boy am I glad he did. It sounded complex but it really wasn't. On with the show.

4 servings
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1-1/4 lbs)
1/2 cup shredded fontina or mozzarella cheese (about 2 oz)
2 slices bacon, crisp-cooked and crumbled
2T finely chopped fresh basil leaves
1T olive oil
1/2 cup Italian dry bread crumbs
4 cups baby spinach leaves
2T water
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 jar Bertolli Four Cheese Rosa Sauce
8 oz fettuccine, cooked and drained

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Make deep 1 inch long cut with knife parallel to cutting board, inside each chicken breast half to form pocket.
3. Combine cheese, bacon, and basil in small bowl.
4. Evenly stuff pockets with cheese mixture, then press edges together to seal.
5. Brush chicken with olive oil, then dip in bread crumbs, turning to coat.
6. Arrange chicken on baking sheet (which I covered with aluminum and sprayed with non-stick cooking spray).
7. Bake 20 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.
8. Meanwhile, cook spinach, water, and garlic in a skillet over medium high heat until spinach is wilted.
9. Stir in sauce and heat through.
10. To serve, arrange hot fettuccine on serving platter (or directly on plate as I did), then top with sauce mixture and chicken.

Now, as you see above, this recipe does not call for any extra seasoning, such as salt. This had me a bit concerned as I think everyone has had their share of bland chicken. I was not confident that the Italian seasoned bread crumbs would be sufficient in flavor to make up for the naturally devoid of flavor chicken breast.

Also, bacon. Yeah. I am some kind of a scientific anomaly, a rare human, one of only .0003% of people on earth who do not like bacon. I could happily live out the rest of my life without ever eating another piece. Also, I rarely eat meat anymore except for when I have company over. I gave in for this recipe with the chicken alone, the bacon was like a whole different level of sin! So I was really really tempted to leave the bacon out, but in the end I am SO Glad I kept it in. For one, surely the fiance would never speak to me again had he found out that this recipe called for bacon and I didn't use any. Secondly, I was still quite concerned with the lack of additional seasoning as I mention above.

As usual, we start with the bit players in this culinary production.
After turning on the oven to pre-heat, I started with the bacon.

Holy dirty stove Batman! Yikes. Sorry about that.

Then I went on to slice the pockets into the chicken breast. This really was not as hard as I thought it was going to be.

Once the bacon was done it was time to put together the filling.

Hahaha half cup of cheese I mock you! Surely a HALF cup of cheese is never enough cheese! So as you see here I went a little over the recommended amount. It's in my DNA. I cannot help it.

That mix was then tossed together into a bowl,

and stuffed into the waiting chicken breasts. Even using almost twice the amount of cheese, I was able to stuff all of the filling into these breasts.

They were brushed with olive oil, doused with bread crumbs, and placed on the baking sheet.

Into the oven they went, while I went to work on the rest of the meal. I got the past in the boiling water and prepped the skillet for the sauce.

Speaking of the sauce, here it is in all it's glory. I am not usually a fan of any jarred pasta sauce outside of the regular tomato based ones. But as always, Bertolli did not let me down. I am telling you folks, if you see this on the shelf, BUY IT. You will not be disappointed.

Put the spinach, water, and garlic in the skillet and cook until just wilted.

Then you add the sauce. Cook until just heated through. If you like you can turn the heat off, or keep it on the lowest setting. At this point everything else is coming together so the sauce shouldn't have time to get cold either way.

Take the chicken breasts out of the oven.

And don't be shy to take an extra moment to admire their beauty. Ahhh the smell of these...

Don't leave your windows open while cooking this unless you want the neighbors to come barging into your house demanding a plate.

I mean, look at these!

Arrange the pasta on a plate, and spoon some sauce over it.

Place one of the breasts over the pasta, and serve. Now this is a huge serving here, but I wanted to use this much to get a nice picture. I need not to have worried, as the fiance devoured this entire plate almost without interruption before sitting back with an expression of bliss on his face.

As I mentioned, I was very impressed with this sauce and would definitely buy it. It was not overly salty as some sauces tend to be. Also, the cheese and bacon add the perfect amount of salt to the breasts. Combined with the fresh flavor of the basil it adds a wonderful taste to the chicken while keeping it moist.

Enjoy!

Roasted shrimp and asparagus pasta in lemon sauce

Today's recipe is one that I have been messing with for a few months now. I finally think I have it perfected.

Ingredients:
1 lb angel hair pasta (or any pasta of your choosing, I just think angel hair works best)
Olive oil
2T butter
1 lb of asparagus, trimmed and cut into bite size pieces
1lb large shrimp, peeled & de-veined
Salt and pepper
Zest of 2 lemons
Juice of 2 lemons
1 large shallot, finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3-4 small anchovy fillets
Shredded parmesan (approx 1 handful)

1. Pre heat oven to 400 degrees
2. Lay shrimp in a pile on a baking sheet. Drizzle with approx 3T olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss to coat.
3. Place a large pot of salted water on the stove, add 2T olive oil, and bring to a boil.
4. Bring a smaller pot of water to a simmer (this will be for your asparagus)
5. In yet another pan/skillet slowly melt the butter with 2T of olive oil.
6. Put the asparagus & pasta into their pots. Cook until done to your liking, which will probably take about the same amount of time as the shrimp will be in the oven.
7. Place the shrimp in the oven, and roast for 6-8 minutes until the shrimp is pink and cooked through.
8. Turn the heat a little bit higher under the butter and olive oil mixture. Medium is perfect.
9. Into the butter add the anchovy fillets & stir until they are dissolved.
10. Add the lemon juice, zest, shallots, and garlic to the butter and anchovy sauce. Cook until the shallots are soft. DO NOT burn this. Cook it over medium or lower heat just until the shallots are soft. Then you can either turn the burner off, or put it on the lowest heat possible. If the lemon zest burns your sauce is ruined.
11. When the timer goes off take the shrimp out of the oven, and check to see if your pasta and asparagus are done. Drain the pasta, and drain the asparagus.
12. Place the pasta in the butter sauce and toss to coat.
13. Add the shrimp, asparagus, and a handful of the shredded parm. Stir together.
14. Plate and serve!

Enjoy this meal. It is very easy, and VERY flavorful. Don't be scared of it because it has anchovy fillets in it. When they are melted into olive oil they take on a rich, nutty flavor. It won't even taste like fish.

Here is the cast of characters:

First the lovely shrimp. You are just going to pile them right on a baking sheet like so.

Then you put 3T of olive oil on it, sprinkle with about 1T each of salt and pepper, and toss to coat.

And trust me, if you must sample the wine to be served with dinner at this point, well I sure won't be telling anyone. Consider it a quality control of sorts. Wouldn't want to serve anyone bad wine would you?

Now shake the pan up so the shrimp are scattered across it evenly.

Place a pot of salted water on the stove top and bring to a boil. Place a smaller pot of water on another burner, and bring to a simmer.

Take a large skillet and put it on ANOTHER burner, at which point I was wishing I had a six burner stove. Melt the 2T butter and 2T olive oil over very low heat. Put the pasta in the boiling water, and the asparagus in the simmering water.

Place the shrimp in the oven and set your timer for 6-8 minutes. I set mine for 7 to check their progress at that point.

Now turn the heat up to medium under the butter and olive oil. Pick three or four fillets out of your anchovies.

Put the fillets in the pan, and stir them until they dissolve. Which is really hard to get a picture of it turns out! Where's my professional photographer when I need him/her?!

Then add the garlic, shallots, lemon zest, and juice. Turn the heat down and cook just until the shallots are soft. Like I said above, be very very careful not to have the heat on too high. Burned lemon zest is the nastiest flavor on earth and you will ruin your sauce if you let it get that far. There is no saving it once it's burned.

Now things will be happening quickly. The shrimp, pasta, and asparagus will likely be done at the same time. Take the shrimp out of the oven.

Drain the pasta, and the asparagus.

Now put the pasta (as much as you can fit) into the sauce and toss to coat.

Now add the shrimp, asparagus, and a big handful of the shredded parm.

Stir this together.

Plate it all pretty like, and serve! I usually give another sprinkle of parmesan at this point.

Enjoy!

Eggplant Shepherd's Pie

This is a recipe I got from the March 2009 issue of Bon Appetit. The original recipe calls 2 pounds of lamb. I used one pound of really good quality ground sirloin I got from my butcher, and one pound of ground turkey. I also added a few other ingredients to make this recipe my own.


Ingredients for the filling:
-1 medium eggplant, cut into cubes
-kosher salt
-4 tbsp, or more if needed, extra virgin olive oil; divided
-1 lb ground sirloin
-1 lb ground turkey
-1/2 large white onion, chopped
-1 14 ounce can of tomatoes
-1.5 cups of broth, whatever you have on hand
-2 tbsp flour
-1/2 cup of white wine
-4 large garlic cloves, chopped
-1/2 tbsp of oregano
-1 tsp cayenne
-4 large mushrooms, chopped

Ingredients for the potato topping:
-12 red potatoes chopped in 4, NOT peeled
-1/4 stick of butter
-1 tbsp olive oil
-2 garlic cloves, minced
-1 cup of milk
-1 cup shredded cheese

Now onto the fun.




















Lay the eggplant cubes on a baking sheet, use one with a raised edge. Like so.

Sprinkle with kosher salt, don't be shy now.

Let that stand all nice and pretty, for about an hour. Tossing every now and then.

At that point you will rinse the eggplant, and pat dry with paper towels.

Heat up 3 tbsp of oil in a heavy large pot over med-high heat. Add the eggplant and saute until it is tender, about 12-15 minutes. Toss the cooked eggplant into a medium sized bowl.

In the same pot, lightly brown the ground meat, and set aside. This meat will continue to cook in a sauce so do not brown it too much in this step.

In same pot, add in 2 tbsp of butter, the onions, 2 tbsp of flour, and stir to coat. Continue to stir until the mixture has thickened, and the onions are tender, about 10 minutes. Add the wine, and boil until most of the wine has evaporated. Be sure to scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot, that's where a lot of flavor will be.




















After the wine has evaporated, add the tomatoes with juice, broth (I used some homemade chicken stock I had on hand), garlic, oregano, cayenne, and mushrooms.

Add the meat with it's accumulated juices. Simmer until thickened to your liking, then keep over very low heat while you cook the potatoes.

At this point I set my oven to preheat to 375 degrees.

Cook potatoes in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 15 minutes or so.

Melt the butter & oil in a medium saucepan over med-high heat. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, not more than a minute or so. Add milk and simmer.

Drain the potatoes, and return them to their pot. Leave the heat under this pot on medium, and stir the potatoes until the cooking water has almost completely evaporated. Enough to where you can see that it has cooked off, but not long enough to let the potatoes start to stick to the pan.

Add the milk mixture, and mash until the potatoes are smooth.



















Here is what my filling looks like before I put it in the baking dish, I just used a large, square, Pyrex baking dish. You can use whatever dish you like, even a 13x9x2 would work.




















Pour the meat filling into the baking dish, then cover it with the potatoes.

Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the top. I used a blend of cheddar and Monterrey jack.

Place in oven and bake, until the filling is heated through, and the topping has turned a golden color.

Juices from the filling may seep up onto the top of the casserole. It doesn't make it look pretty but the flavor is amazing.

I served it with a salad and enjoyed every bite!

In hindsight, next time I will add something green, and some carrots.

This is a very versatile dish, the possibilities are endless.