Wednesday, August 09, 2006

5:4 challenge #4 Chicken Yumbo's (p1)

Ok, this is the 4th of of the 5:4 challanges. The 5 ingredients were: Chicken, Asparagus, Mustard, Spinach and any style of Tomatoes. We get to pick 3 of our own ingredients to make a main dish...this is what I came up with. (It was so good that I had to give it an acutal name, ha ha).

Chicken Yumbo's P1)
Ingredients:
Skinless, boneless chicken breasts (4 large or 5 to 6 small)
Pesto sauce (I like Gilroy Farms pesto sauce)
1 jar of sun dried tomatoes, marinated (again I like Gilroy Farms brand)
Swiss cheese slices
Canadian bacon
Asparagus spears (I used precooked frozen)
One frozen box of cut spinach, thawed and well drained (I squeeze out The excess water by hand)
Salt to taste
Olive oil
1 packet of McCormick brand Chicken Dijon Sauce blend
1.5 cups of water


Pound chicken breasts between some parchment paper till thin and basically even all over. Place oil from jar tomatoes in a skillet and a little extra olive oil if necessary - cook the chicken on both sides, til it just starts to brown lightly - but not cooked completely.(this sears in the juices but it will cook the rest of the way in the oven)

Drain frozen spinach and squeeze out all the excess water. Place in a bowl with 3 to 4 TAB pesto. Dice or cut all the sun dried tomatoes into small bits and add to the spinach pesto mixture. Mix well.

Place semi cooked chicken on foil lined baking sheets, lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Top each chicken breast with the spinach, tomato and pesto mixture. Place one to two canadian bacon rounds on each chicken (depending on the size of the chicken breast) and top with 4 or 5 asparagus spears (alternating the tips back and forth)
Sprinkle with a little salt and spray each chicken with a little cooking spray.

Bake in the oven at 350 for 35 mins or til chicken is cooked through.

For the sauce:
in a sauce pan take the McCormick Chicken Dijon sauce blend and place in a sauce pan and slowly add 1.5 cups of water ( 1/8 to 1/4 cups at a time til to insure there are no clumps and than add remaining water). Add a drizzle of olive oil (approximately 1tsp), salt and 1TAB pesto sauce. Bring to a boil til it reduces a bit and thickens. Remove from heat and continue with chicken.


When the chicken is finished take out of the over, top with 1 to 2 slices of Swiss cheese and pop back into the oven for another 3 to 5 mins, or until its melted and lightly bubbly. Using a standard turner place each chicken creation on a server plate, drizzle with sauce and enjoy!

1 comment:

Catherine said...

I'm so glad you started a blog! I had no idea you were such an amazing chef until you did!!