I love chicken but have never been a fan of white meat. Thighs are my usual go-to since they retain moisture better and are rarely dry. But I think I was just emotionally scarred by the fact that my mother cooked thick chicken breasts until they had the consistency of flip-flops (“You don’t want to get salmonella!”). It was the same with pork (“You don’t want to get trichinosis!”). So we had to smother them in any wet substance just to make them go down without a fight.
For the next few weeks, I’m going to share the recipes that changed my mind.
I’m convinced that the secret is cooking them quickly, and cutting them thinly.
INGREDIENTS
1-1/2 lbs chicken breasts,
1 tsp garlic salt, (or to taste)
1/4 tsp black pepper, (or to taste)
1/3 cup Pesto sauce
4 slices Provolone cheese
1 large tomato, thinly sliced into 8 slices
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
Good aged Balsamic vinegar
Parmesan Cheese, optional, for garnish
METHOD
Preheat oven to 425.* Cut chicken breast in half lengthwise so you have 4 thin chicken cutlets (Or buy the thin sliced breasts from Wegman’s).
Pound each cutlet in a quart sized ziploc bag or between 2 sheets of plastic wrap into 1/8” thick cutlets. Season both sides of chicken with garlic salt and black pepper.
Spoon and spread about 1 Tbsp pesto in the center of each cutlet, top with 2 thin tomato slices and top with Provolone slices. Roll the chicken up tightly like a quesadilla and seal ends with a toothpick.
Preheat large oven-safe skillet over medium/high heat with 1 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp butter.
Add chicken roll-ups and sear on both sides until golden (4 min per side or 8 minutes total on the stove).
Sprinkle tops with Parmesan cheese if using. Place the skillet on the center rack of oven and bake 425˚F for 10-13 minutes.
*You can also finish them in the skillet instead of using the oven. Just use a meat thermometer to make sure they get to 165. When you test them, stay in the meat and don’t put the probe through to the filling.
To serve, remove toothpicks then plate chicken pesto roll-ups, spooning pan juices and drizzle some good Balsamic over top.
Serve with some pasta and a salad if you like, but they’re also delicious cold.
One of my taste-testers and I picked them right out of the fridge and ate them cold for lunch and they were great.
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