Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup finely chopped yellow onion (about 1/2 large onion)
- 2 small cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup dried apricots (about 2 ounces), plumped in hot water, drained, and cut into 1/4-inh pieces
- 1/2 cup fresh goat cheese (2 to 3 ounces), (or use fromage blanc or softened cream cheese)
- 2 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 pounds total), each cut in half lengthwise
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 cup Japanese panko crumbs or use toasted coarse bread crumbs
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons white wine
- 1/2 cup unsalted chicken stock
- Whole fresh sage leaves, for garnish
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
In a medium-size saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium and add the garlic. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Don't let the onions and garlic brown. Next, add the chopped sage and salt and pepper to taste, and cook until the onions are translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the apricots and cook until heated through, 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool for 10 minutes. Thoroughly mix in the goat cheese and set aside. (This can be made up to 24 hours in advance and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before stuffing the chicken breasts.)
Place each chicken breast between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. With a kitchen mallet, a cleaver, or a heavy tin can, such as a can of tomatoes, pound the breasts until they are between 1/8 and 1/4-inch thick. (They will not roll easily if they are too thick.) Season with salt and pepper.
Spread about 1/4 cup of the stuffing down the center of each chicken breast. Fold up the short ends of the chicken breast, and then roll one long side jelly-roll-fashion to the other side. Tie the ends with string to secure them. Place the egg in a shallow bowl and the panko crumbs in another shallow bowl. Dip the chicken in the egg, and then roll in the panko crumbs until completely coated. In an ovenproof saute pan, melt 4 tablespoons of the butter over medium-high heat. Place the chicken in the pan and brown on all sides, about 8 minutes. Then put the pan in the oven and bake until the chicken is a deep golden color and firm when pressed, 10 to 12 minutes.
After the chicken breasts come out of the oven, remove the strings and put them on a warmed platter; tent with foil. Next, place the pan over high heat and deglaze it with the wine. Boil until reduced to about 1 tablespoon, 1 to 2 minutes, and then add the chicken stock. Boil until reduced by half, 3 to 5 minutes, and add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and swirl in the remaining 1 tablespoon butter.
Cut each breast in half crosswise and place one half on its side on the plate. Lean the second half against the first, facing down. Alternatively, slice breast into even slices. Drizzle with the sauce, garnish with sage leaves, and serve immediately.
















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By jroxx
Central NJ
on May 10, 2011
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My fiance and I made this dish for my parents on mother's day and it received rave reviews! It was a little labor intensive, I ended up using toothpicks instead of string and cooking the breasts in the pan a little longer than in the oven (I was afraid of undercooking them. I also completely skipped the last step since I have to transfer into an oven-safe pan (we have a stove to oven pan on our wedding registry now!. But the chicken was so tender and juicy that it didn't really need anything else. The stuffing was amazing. I would make again just to eat separately on crackers or something as an app!
By stefmartin
on March 15, 2011
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This was a great recipe...altho tweaking was necessary. I changed the goat cheese to a HONEY goat cheese to work better with the apricots (this is good if you have little guys to feed. I didn't have sage leaves in house so I used summer savory. Instead of rolling up the chicken breast which is soooo fiddley, I butterflied them and then pounded them out, placed the filling, and folded them together again...much easier with same outcome. This will go into rotation!
By meltonkl_12224609
West Sacramento, 43
on February 03, 2010
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This is a labor intensive dish, had to use toothpicks instead of string-- presentation was off but my taste buds didn't care!
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