Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken and Ratatouille

I wanted to thank my friend Gail for fixing up some chairs of mine. She re-upholstered the chairs and they look great!

I decided to make a twist on a recipe that I saw Giada De Laurentiis make on Food Network. She was making Goat cheese stuffed pork chops. I don't eat pork so I used chicken instead.

I wanted to pair it with some type of nice vegetable. I was watching Tyler Florence make his ultimate Ratatouille, so I just had to try it.

These two dishes went perfectly together.
Recipes follow:

Goat cheese, spinach, sun-dried tomato stuffed Chicken Breasts


What I used:


1 tablespoon olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 sun-dried tomatoes, diced
1 (10-ounce) bag of frozen spinach, thawed and excess water squeezed out
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 cup (2 ounces) goat cheese
1/3 cup reduced-fat cream cheese
4 big boneless skinless chicken breasts
salt
freshly ground black pepper

What I did:

I mixed the goat cheese, cream cheese, spinach, and sun-dried tomatoes all in a bowl until it formed a nice filling.

I cleaned the chicken breasts and slit a pocket into the side of each one, just deep enough to stuff filling into. I took a heaping table spoon of filling and stuffed each chicken breast pocket.
I then got a skillet hot and added some extra virgin olive oil to coat the pan. I made a light dredging flour by mixing some flour and thyme together in a flat pan. I dredged the chicken in the thyme/flour and then lightly browned both sides of each chicken breast in the skillet.

Then I transferred all the chicken into a pan to finish cooking in the oven at 350 o F, about 45 minutes for large chicken breasts, until internal temperature was at least 160o F. You could probably turn up to 400 o F and cut some cooking time off; I just did it slower to make sure the chicken was moist. I also wanted the ratatouille to come out at same time as the chicken.

Ratatouille

What I used:

1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 pound small Italian eggplants, cut into 1-inch cubes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound zucchini, cut crosswise into 1-inch sections
3 anchovy fillets, finely minced
2 onions, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Leaves from 1/2 bunch fresh basil,
coarsely chopped Leaves from 4 fresh thyme sprigs
2 pints cherry tomatoes
Splash balsamic vinegar

What I did:

I lined a large platter with paper towels, heated 1/3 cup olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. I then fried up the eggplant, seasoning with salt and pepper; until the eggplant is soft and wilted. I placed the eggplant on the paper towels to remove some of the oil and then began the same process for the zucchini. When it was soft I added it to the eggplant.



I took the same pan and added more oil if needed. Then I added the anchovies (you can find them by the sardines and canned tuna in the supermarket), onions, garlic and herbs. Then cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until the onions get nice and caramelized/wilted. Then add the tomatoes and cook that down until pulpy.

Then add back in the eggplant and zucchini, season with salt and pepper and let the ratatouille cook slowly until the mixture is soft, mushy and juicy. It begins to look like a stewing vegetable soup goulash. I placed all of the finished ratatouille into a big bowl and drizzled balsamic vinegar over top.

I enjoyed this recipe the most. And it was a perfect complement to the stuffed Chicken.

Once again, THANK YOU FOOD NETWORK for giving me such great ideas!