Chicken Cutlets Stuffed With Spinach, Mushrooms, and Feta
By: Kait Nolan
Published: Thursday, December 10, 2009 - 4:54pm

Ingredients




2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup frozen spinach (thawed and drained)
1/2 cup diced baby bella mushrooms
1/2 cup reduced fat feta cheese

Preparation

1 Take each chicken breast and starting on the fattest side, use a very sharp knife to slowly cut down the center.  The idea is that you’re opening the chicken like a book.  Be sure NOT to cut all the way through!  You one one biiiiiiiig piece of chicken. 2 Place each opened chicken breast between two sheets of wax paper.  Grab your meat mallet or iron skillet and whack away at the chicken to flatten it out.  You’ll want to move anything nearby that’s breakable as this process shakes the counter.  Now come on, really wale on it.  This is where you take out all those frustrations with your boss/mother/husband/children/road hogs etc.  Doesn’t that feel good?  And you’re going to have some lovely, tender chicken as a result. 3 Sprinkle both sides of the cutlets with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. 4 In a bowl mix together the spinach, mushrooms, and feta. 5 For each cutlet lay out 2 to 3 long pieces of butcher’s twine.  We’ve got a lot of stuffing, so you’re going to have to tie it to keep it together.  I tried both lengthwise and crossways.  It’s up to you. 6 Lay one cutlet flat over the twine and fill with half the cheese/veggie mixture. 7 Carefully fold up/over the edges and tie with twine to hold together.  Poke any extra filling back through any holes.  You want to get this tight around the filling.  There may be method to this, but I winged it. 8 Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until the outside of the chicken starts to go a little golden.  It takes longer to cook than you’d think.  I started checking it at 30 minutes and had to keep adding time. 9 Cut the twine before serving.  Be careful removing it so that your chicken doesn’t fall apart/open.

About


I’ve been itching to stuff chicken with something lately.  Since I found some lovely reduced fat feta, I decided that spinach and mushrooms would do the trick.  We’ve got roasted veggies leftover from Sunday’s cookout, so that’s an easy side, and these cutlets came out wonderfully, despite the assorted oozing of the filling.  It’s cheese.  It melts.  What do you expect?  Anyway, this is a GREAT and relatively easy dinner for nights when you just want to hit something.  Feel the catharsis?