Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Garlic and Herbed Goat Cheese

Roasting the garlic mellows its bite and gives the stuffing a subtle hint of flavor. Stuff the chicken breasts up to a day ahead, refrigerate, and cook them just before guests arrive. Garnish each plate with a rosemary sprig.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 stuffed chicken breast half)

Ingredients

• 1  whole garlic head
• 1/3  cup  (3 ounces) goat cheese with herbs, softened
• 6  (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/2  teaspoon  kosher salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 2  teaspoons  olive oil

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Remove white papery skin from garlic head (do not peel or separate the cloves). Wrap head in foil. Bake at 350° for 1 hour; cool 10 minutes. Separate cloves; squeeze to extract garlic pulp. Discard skins. Combine garlic pulp and cheese, stirring well; set aside.

Cut a horizontal slit through thickest portion of each chicken breast half to form a pocket. Stuff about 4 teaspoons cheese mixture into each pocket. Sprinkle chicken evenly on both sides with salt and pepper.

Heat oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan; cook 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Turn chicken over. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until a thermometer registers 165°; let stand 5 minutes.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

238 (31% from fat)

Fat:

8.1g (sat 3.3g,mono 2.9g,poly 1.1g)

Protein:

37.3g

Carbohydrate:

1.9g

Fiber:

0.2g

Cholesterol:

101mg

Iron:

1.5mg

Sodium:

292mg

Calcium:

46mg