Smoked Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken Breasts Wrapped in Prosciutto

I don't really care for chicken, its the meat I eat because I can't have red meat every night of the week, even though I would if I didn't care about the fact that heart disease runs in the family. Ian prefers pork to chicken so a lot of the time I just avoid chicken altogether. The more I've learned about chicken processing plants the even less thrilled I've been about eating chicken. But I decided I need to embrace chicken and I've started figuring out that there are lots of things you can do to chicken that make it more appealing. Recently I roasted my first chicken which was really fun and probably the best tasting chicken I've had in a long time. I then made my first chicken stock from the carcass and then I made chicken noodle soup. I've made chicken noodle soup a couple times since then and I think I'm perfecting my recipe. I've also been buying organic, non medicated free range chicken and although it is pricey it is by far tastier and I feel better knowing that the birds at least had a brief but content life before being consumed.

Anyway tonight we are having a recipe inspired by my Dad. My guess is he made it up one night when he really wanted Chicken Cordon Bleu but we were avoiding fried foods. My Dad would use bacon and mozzarella cheese but I've tweaked it a bit tonight and I'm using smoked mozzarella and prosciutto. Here's the prep.

2 largish chicken breasts
4 ample slices of prosciutto
4 slices of smoked mozza
pepper
Pam & foil

Trim all the fatty bits and the tendons off the chicken breast, I'm squeamish about chicken so I like it pretty clean, any little spots of fat or blood need to be remove (blame my Mom) so I'll be happy eating it. Lay a piece of saran wrap over the breast and pound them out with a mallet until they are about 1 cm thick. Try to get them nice and even as it will help with the stuffing. Season both sides with pepper. In the middle of both breasts place 2 pieces of mozza. Fold the chicken around the cheese to make a nice little packet so that no cheese is showing, any holes and your cheese is going to leak out when you bake it. Then tightly wrap each breast with 2 pieces of prosciutto, try to overlap the prosciutto so that as little chicken is showing and to keep the cheese inside. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes, this will help the chicken keep its shape and prevent the cheese from melting too fast.


Place breast on a foil line baking tray, spray foil with Pam to prevent sticking. The foil is nice for easy clean up in case the cheese leaks out. Bake at 375 oven for about 30 minutes, depending on the size of the breast. Really yummy when served with steamed asparagus with a balsamic reduction.