Artichoke Stuffed Chicken

Tonight's dinner was a bold adventure. I found this recipe on a really old newspaper clipping in my wife's bag of old family recipes. This one comes from a person in Cohasset, a town just outside of Boston, so probably a Boston newspaper where my mother-in-law is from.


Why a bold adventure? Well, it's not everyday that I base dinner on an old newspaper clipping. In fact, any recipes I just happen to find laying around (aside from the ones all over my desk) are highly suspect. But, this one seemed trustworthy, as it came from that family Ziploc.

I started my prep by hydrating some sun dried tomatoes. I did this by steaming them for just a few minutes rather than the recommended soaking for 30 minutes. They came out just fine.

Next, I cut 2 chicken breasts Scalopinni style into 6 pieces.

The stuffing consists of the sun dried tomatoes chopped, minced onion, minced garlic, some Parmesan cheese, some capers (it was my first time eating capers tonight), bread crumbs, oil (I have to use vegetable oil instead of olive oil), and the artichokes, drained and chopped. I like to rinse that nasty brine off them too.

I pounded the chicken flat with a mallet. After a few of the chicken pieces, I discovered that wax paper on the bottom worked better than plastic wrap because the chicken would stick to the bottom plastic when trying to roll up the chicken, and plastic wrap worked better on the top than wax paper because the wax paper tended to tear as it absorbed the impact of the meat tenderizer. Pound it out flat.

Add a little bit of stuffing toward the beginning.

I used the wax paper to get that first roll. Kind of reminds me of college days only now with food. After pulling back the wax paper, I put a little more stuffing on the unrolled part.

And fold over once more.

Put them seam side down on a baking rack.

Into the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. That stuff on the top is paprika.

 

So, here's the deal with these. The directions say to drizzle these things with olive oil before sprinkling on the paprika and putting them in the oven. The problem with that is my wife and I both cannot eat olive oil, so I omitted this step. I should have at least rubbed them down with some vegetable oil because these turned out a little dry and rubbery, especially the outer layer of chicken.

Overall, the flavor was pretty good. Artichoke and sun dried tomato is a sophisticated taste combo that I enjoy sometimes. Jen couldn't eat it because of the rubbery chicken, and my daughter didn't like it at all. I thought it was pretty good, but not outstanding. I did finally get to use those capers that have been in the fridge for awhile though, and it was my first time eating those. I found that the capers made it taste like Feta was used instead of Parmesan.

It's doubtful I will ever make this particular recipe again, but I really like the concept on stuffing chicken like this. I'll have to figure out some Noob family fav ingredients to put in like more cheese, maybe coat the exterior in Panko, and I definitely won't forget to oil it down before popping it in the oven.