Apricot-Pesto Chicken
A couple of months ago a few of us were having dinner at Paula O'Connor's house (Newport Beach, CA). She served this wonderful chicken dish. (Of course we all wanted the recipe.)
I'm always looking for new chicken dishes because somehow no one in my family eats anything but chicken and turkey. So coming up with new recipes is a bit of a challenge. One of the best things about making this recipe is that it involves barbecuing, thankfully that's not my department. Here's how you make it:
Ingredients:
4 Thin sliced chicken breasts or 2 regular breasts
1/2 cup + 1/4 cup of apricot jam
1/2 cup + 1 /4 cup of pesto
1/3 cup of very finely chopped pecans (pecan chips)
First you put the breasts between plastic wrap, and pound the heck out of them till they are almost paper thin. (I use a mallet.)
Then you mix the jam with the pesto and set aside about 1/3 of the mixture for later. Next carefully spoon the mixture on top of each breast leaving about 1/2 an inch around the edges. After that you evenly sprinkle the chopped pecans on top of the breasts as well.
Next you roll up each breast and secure them with toothpicks stuck in diagonally. Before you put them on the BBQ, brush the tops with half the mixture you've put aside.
You then BBQ them on the top rack on medium for 6 to 7 minutes on each side. (The trick is cooking the breasts through without drying them out.) Once you turn the breasts over use the remaining part of the apricot/pesto mixture to apply to the top of breasts.
While the breasts are cooking mix 1/4 cup of the jam and 1/4 cup of the pesto. Right before serving microwave the new mixture. You will use this mixture as an additional sauce for the chicken.
Another option is baking the chicken at 350 until the breasts are cooked through or cooking them in a pan with oil. However, these option doesn't come out quite as tasty.
Arugula What?
Assuming you know how to make rice, a salad that goes well with this chicken dish is an arugula salad. I have had to get used to Arugula, but now I love it. Years ago I was in Florence with my husband and we went to a well known pizza place. When our order came out, the pizza was covered with this green stuff, and I didn't like the bitter taste of that that pizza at all. Now I actually love it. Go figure.
Recently I was at the home of Kelsey and Chris Nunziata. They served a simple but delicious arugula salad.
Here are the ingredients:
A bag of arugula lettuce
The juice of half a lemon
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
1/4 cup of shaved Parmesan (DiGiorno is really good.)
Salt and Pepper (doesn't count as an ingredient in my book)
Starting with the arugula, just throw in all the ingredients and toss. (Taste the salad to see if you need more of something.)
Try It You'll love It!
Fun Saying
"She had me in stitches." What on earth? What I envision is someone with sutures all over them. It really makes no sense, but who cares:)