Mediterranean Stuffed Chicken Breasts

OK - so here is the photo of the Mediterranean Chicken that I made again last night.  Adtually, this is the remnant of the very last piece that was left.  I forgot to shoot any pictures before we ate dinner.

And it is really easy, really fast!  From start to finish (not counting shopping time) it takes a little more than 1/2 hour until you can eat dinner!

So, here's your shopping list:


2-3 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 oz. soft goat cheese
1/2 cup pre-blended/mixed mediterranean flavor vegetable "paste" or bruschetta topping
1/4 cup (approx.) good balsamic vinegar
Salt, Pepper to taste
Penzey's Tuscan Sunset (optional, but nice)

Directions:

Mash the goat cheese in a bowl and add about 1/2 cup of a mediterranean flavored vegetable/bruschetta "paste" from a jar.  I got mine at a place in Sonoma when Myrna and I went there, but the brand is missing from the label.  The original recipe called for making a mixture out of sun-dried tomatoes - I thought I had some, but didn't; regardless, the jar of vegetable stuff (which has kalamata olives in it, it's red color) was so fast and easy.

Then take 2-3 lbs. of chicken breasts and slice a "pocket" into the side of each piece.  Put about 2 Tbsp. of the goat cheese mixture into the pocket.  Place the chicken breasts into a PAM (olive oil type is good) sprayed pan.

Season the top of the chicken breasts with salt, pepper - and I used Penzey's Sunny Paris, also, because it had shallots in it.  The original recipe called for sauteed shallots, but this seasoning was so much easier.  Then I sprayed the chicken pieces lightly with PAM.

Then shake some really good balsamic vinegar over the chicken so that there is some extra balsamic in the bottom of the baking pan - not a lot, but enough so that you can see it's covering the bottom of the pan.

Then I baked the chicken for 20-25 minutes at 450 until the internal temperature was 155-160.  Then cover the pan with foil and let it rest for about 10 minutes before serving.

Notes:

The original recipe said to then add cornstarch/water to thicken the juices, but we found that with little bits of goat cheese and kalamata olives in the juices, it was fine to just spoon that over the orzo.

My 3-lb. package of frozen chicken breasts had some really unusual sized pieces in it, but I was still able to slice open almost every piece and had enough filling for all the breasts except for three really skinny pieces.

I served it with orzo (to which I added a little bit of Penzey's Tuscan Sunset and a tiny bit of leftover Bavarian mustard sauce - for which I can send the recipe to you, too, if you want... it's excellent over pork tenderloin, or even bake the tenderloin in the sauce).