Queens Eats: Baked Chicken Stuffed with Spinach and Fontina

This article was written by Erin Walsh.

Greetings, Patch readers.

Fans of Claire Messud’s acclaimed novel "The Emporer’s Children," which follows the story of several overeducated and overindulged young adults adrift in Manhattan in the wake of 9/11, will appreciate that I was having a Bootie Tubb moment this week when I pondered what to make for this week’s edition of Queens Eats.

In the book, Tubb becomes disillusioned when he discovers his uncle, a famous journalist, recycling his own earlier material out of sheer laziness. After I bought ingredients for this week’s recipe, I had the nagging feeling that I had already made this dish. Luckily, looking back over the Queens Eats archives, much to my relief, I realized that I only pondered making it before. Whew.

I adapted the dish because I bought spinach instead of arugula and I was out of Panko breadcrumbs, so I substituted regular Italian breadcrumbs instead. Guess what? It still turned out delicious and is perfect for a chilly evening. Enjoy.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Fontina & Arugula (Source: Williams-Sonoma)

Ingredients

2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing
5 oz. fontina cheese, preferably fontina Val d’Aosta
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, each about 7 oz.
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 large garlic clove, minced
16 arugula leaves, tough stems removed
2 eggs
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried rosemary, crumbled
1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges

Directions

Position a rack in the upper third of an oven and preheat to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lightly oil a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

Trim off and discard the rind from the cheese. Cut the cheese into four 2-by-1 1/2- inch rectangles, each about 1/8 inch thick.

Using a flat meat pounder, pound each chicken breast half until flattened to an even thickness of about 1/4 inch. Season the chicken breasts with the salt and pepper.

Place 1 chicken breast, with a long side facing you, on the work surface. Top with one-fourth of the garlic and 4 arugula leaves, torn as needed to fit the breast half, leaving a 1-inch border uncovered on all sides. Top with a piece of cheese. Starting at a short end, roll up the breast, tucking in the arugula as needed and set seam side down. Repeat with the remaining chicken, garlic, arugula and cheese.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and one tablespoon of the olive oil. In a shallow dish, stir together the bread crumbs, oregano and rosemary. One at a time, coat a rolled chicken breast with the egg mixture and then roll in the bread crumbs, coating evenly. 

Place the breaded breasts, seam side down, on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Place the oiled baking dish in the oven and heat until very hot, about three minutes. Carefully arrange the breaded breasts, seam side down, in the hot dish. Drizzle evenly with the remaining one tablespoon oil. Bake until the bread crumbs are golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of a stuffed breast registers 170°F, 25 to 35 minutes.

Transfer the chicken to a carving board. Cut each stuffed breast crosswise into slices about 1⁄2 inch thick and transfer to warmed individual plates. Serve immediately and pass the lemon wedges at the table.