Southwest Stuffed Chicken Breast

I tossed this recipe together over two separate tries, and I'm pretty pleased with how it all came together. Anything stuffed into anything else is always a fun, crowd pleasing combination. Neat party trick, and once you get used to filleting a chicken breast you have a whole new world of cooking open to you.

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts

1/2 medium white onion, diced (can be more or less to taste)

1 can diced tomatoes, drained (can be plain, or any variety with a Mexican/southwest flair)

1 small can diced green chilies

juice from 1/2 a lime

Mexican mozzarella cheese (skim or whole milk)

Seasoning:

sea salt

pepper

dill weed

oregano

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine onion, tomatoes and chilies in a bowl. You want the juice from the chilies, they add a nice zest and will go well with the lime we add later (for a milder flavor, drain the chilies and keep the juices from the tomatoes). Stir well, mixing in some oregano to taste.

With a sharp knife, carefully fillet chicken breasts, starting on the smooth side of the breast, leaving just enough flesh at the rougher side to keep the two halves securely together. Trim away any extra fat from the meat. Rub a little sea salt all over the outside before stuffing them.

Next, take a spoon and start filling the breasts with your tomato mix. You want them to be full enough to fill the entire fillet, but not so much that you cant neatly fold the meat back together. Depending on the size of your chicken, it will probably be about 2 tablespoons.

OK, now we are ready to get our stuff in the pan. You will want a pyrex baking pan that will fit your chicken breasts so they are just touching a little. Spread the remainder of your tomato stuffing on the bottom of the pan, and then place your stuffed chicken breasts on top.

Sqeeze the juice from your lime over the chicken, trying to cover it all. Dust the top of the chicken with some fresh ground black pepper.

Next, we cut the cheese. Mexican mozzarella usually comes in a round block, so I sliced it in half across the center to create a half-moon shape. I placed the flat of the moon on the cutting board, then sliced off about 1/8" at a time until I had three half moon pieces of cheese, one for each chicken breast. This goes on top of each breast, centered so they look nice and pretty.

Last but not least, dust the chicken and the cheese with a little dill weed.

Place in the oven, center rack, and bake till the internal temperature registers about 150 or 160 degrees, about 1 hour or so. After you pull it out of the oven, be sure to let the meal sit for about 5 or 10 minutes, and then serve the chicken breasts with a little of the bed of tomato stuffing under it.

When its done, the cheese will not be very drippy or gooey, but should have a nice golden singe across the top. There will be plenty of juices that cooked out of the tomatoes and the chicken, depending on the size of your pan, the fat content of your chicken etc (you could make a nice, spicy gravy out of this if you are so inclined).

I make this with black beans and rice on the side, and tortillas to soak up all those good juices. This would also go well with spanish rice (really any kind of rice - I LOVE rice), and maybe cornbread. This goes great with beer of course, but a nice fruity wine would probably go well with this, even a sangria.

Be sure to enjoy it with friends, loved ones, or even strangers. Food will always taste better with good company. Enjoy!