chicken pesto & mozzarella rolls

I harvested some basil today, so of course, pesto was on my mind.  Dutchie said that she wanted chicken, so I scoured recipes and found this.  Pretty simple actually.  Pound out chicken, slather with pesto, add mozzarella, roll up and secure with toothpicks, and bake.
close up of the pesto and mozzarella.  Basil came from our garden.  Mozzarella was the kind that you can buy in cherry sized balls.  Fresh indeed.

Dont use colored toothpicks, cause it transferred to the chicken.  
Weird to see red and blue within the chicken.
I had some beets, so I decided to roast them,  I wasnt quite sure how I'd use them, but I love the taste of roasted beets.  I ended up just using them as a side dish with a quick and easy vinaigrette.  DELISH!!!

Once the chicken rolls are cooked and rested....I sliced them.
Most of the mozzarella melted out into the baking dish, but I DID eat some of it, 
even though it was soaking in the juices from the baking (oil from pesto and chicken lovelies).
Chicken still had some of the cheese flavor, but I wish I had added the melted bits 
BACK to the chicken when served.
This is what it looked like paired with a salad that included some herbs from the garden.
I was VERY excited about how well this turned out.  It was extremely good, and I got thumbs up 
from all involved.  This was a fun, simple meal with flavors that complemented each other extremely well.  I will be doing this combo again!!! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

VIDEO of me throwing pizza dough

I've already blogged about this meal so I wont bore you, but I made Jamie Oliver's, from scratch, pizza recipe (dough and sauce) again tonight. So I could make a blog entry I had Dutchie take this video.  We did it twice for the obvious fact that I wanted close ups....We DO own a video production company, in case you forgot. This is just me tossing the dough and not creating the whole pizza. Let me know what you think of the video.  Is it better than photos? Dang the pizzas were good. Made one pepperoni (turkey pepperoni), one cheese and garlic (by far the best one) and the third was half cheese and half turkey pepp!
Read more

What have my efforts paid off with so far in the garden....

Image
I look forward to writing about the meals that these will one day become.  I never had a green thumb and  would regularly kill plants.  Watching some home and garden television, trial and error, lots of patience and hard work, and I think I'm finally starting to have a "yield" out of my garden.  Mainly just a meal or two, here and there, along with several supplemental meal roles per plant.  I'm set on herbs, will be rolling in peaches, and hope to get enough figs to enjoy a few and make some preserves. watercress Basil  chives  dill blackberries  figs  cilantro  grapes  Green Beans  jalapenos  lavender  mint  oregano  peaches  raspberries  sage  squash blossom  squash   thyme  heirloom tomatos
Read more

Tilapia En Papillote, which is just a fancy way of saying cooked in a paper bag.

Image
I had dinner with some friends of this weekend. I promised her that I wouldn't blog about her, so lets just call  her Suzy!  Now, "Suzy" is a great cook, and I have enjoyed many meals over the years courtesy of her hands.  She did not ruin her winning streak, and cooked a red snapper wrapped in a parchment pouch with herbs and lemons.  It was so good, that it inspired me to use this method for my flock, the very next day. I repeat, the following photos are NOT from "Suzy", hers looked much better.  These photos are instead, my version of  Tilapia  En Papillote with Polenta and Arugela with Mango Sauce. I'm proud to say that I was able to whip this one up from items I  had in the garden, pantry and freezer.  Frozen tilapia is awesome to  have around, a few minutes thawing in some warm water, and fresh seafood. I choose oregano and sage for the herbs, and I rested the fish on  a leaf of kale. ...
Read more