Sometimes, it's the simple things that are often the absolute best - like this Chicken Caprese. Thought to originate on the Italian island of Capri, the dish takes on the colors of the Italian flag and uses all of the ingredients that Italy is known for - basil, tomato, mozzarella, olive oil, garlic... it's super pretty and totally tasty and you'll love how easy it is.
The recipe I was tweaking called for chicken breasts that you cut a pocket into to stuff with the Italian goodness. Two concerns here for me - one, the chicken is so big no one was going to eat that large of a serving, and two, large chicken breasts like that are hard to cook evenly in a pan, and so I decided to cut mine in half lengthwise. Once they were in half, I pounded them out so they were even thickness all the way through.
I then gave them a dose of salt and pepper, layered the tomatoes, mozzarella slices and basil leaves, and then wrapped the chicken around the filling the best I could. I had some time before I needed to make dinner, so I wrapped them tight in plastic wrap and tucked them back into the fridge for later.
Hindsight tip - this chicken in no way, shape or form, was going to hold the ingredients inside; I realized this as I was wrapping them up. It was too late to do much at this point, but I think if I were to do this again, I would dice the tomato and cheese, or slice ultra thin and wrap the chicken "cordon bleu" style so as to keep it all intact. I use a plastic wrap twisting technique to store the chicken that actually melds it all together so it stays closed up. I tried to find a video of someone else doing it, but failed to find one. I'll have to film one myself, so have patience - I guess some sort of stuffed chicken breast will be on my menu next week so I can grab this technique. It's killer and will change your cooking game, honest.
After some garlic gets a quick browning in olive oil, the chicken is put into the pan to fry. It's thick at this point, and the stuffing wants to heat, melt and ooze out of the chicken, so it's a game here. You want to cook the chicken through and you want it to brown and caramelize. Just work with it the best you can; reducing the heat if need be and cooking it a little longer. The emphasis is on making sure it's cooked through as you don't want to make anyone sick over undercooked chicken. Towards the end of the cook, feel free to lid the pan so as to retain some heat and make sure the center of the chicken is done.
The chicken created a nice pan sauce that would have been great over some prepared noodles. I could have added a bit more oil or some chicken broth to bulk it up. I had already prepared some penne and knew I would not have enough pan juices for the pasta, so I quickly threw together a pesto cream sauce. As tasty as that was, it competed with the Caprese, and so I would work on bolstering the pan juices next time and leave the cream sauce for another meal.
But in the end we really liked it! We served it atop the penne with pesto cream sauce and garnished the chicken with pesto, garlic, basil leaves and shaved Parmesan. It was filling and really delicious.
So if you want a quick stove top meal that tastes like you've cooked all day, then try this Chicken Caprese. It would be wonderful with buttered noodles, alongside salad and risotto, or even served on a bun as a sandwich. If you give it a try, come back and let me know. Buon appetito!
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