Bacon Wrapped Chicken

Stuffed with Gorgonzola and Jalapeño

with Healthy Tweaking

                                                                           *Pictured with smashed potato and salad

Ingredients:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 cup crumbled blue cheese 1/2 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese

1/4 cup toasted pecan, chopped

2 scallions sliced on the bias 1 small shallot chopped

several slices center cut bacon turkey bacon

1 tablespoon olive oil

+1 small jalapeño chopped (If you don’t like too much spice, remove the seeds)

salt and pepper

Sauce:

2 tablespoons butter “fake” butter (I used Smart Balance Light)

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup 1/2 cup chicken stock

1/2 cup half and half or cream 1/2 cup whole milk

2 tablespoons grainy mustard

salt and pepper

+ 1/4 cup dry white wine

+ 1 tablespoon white vinegar

+ 1 tablespoon dijon mustard

(This recipe is made for two people to have a serving and a half)

Heat your oven to 375°

Cut your chicken across the breast without severing it on one side (aka butterfly).  Spread the butterflied chicken pieces out on a workspace and cover with parchment paper.  Pound the chicken until flat and tender.  Season with salt and pepper on both sides.  Cover each face-up piece with the gorgonzola followed by shallot and jalapeño.

Roll the chicken up from one long side to the other and wrap the bacon around the chicken, securing with the bacon (and keeping the chicken rolled up) with toothpicks.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan on Medium-High heat.  Put the chicken in your pan and brown on all sides.  If you are on the more skilled side, feel free to remove the toothpicks while you go along to get a more even brown.  If not, that’s fine, just turn, turn, turn…

Remove (I recommend using metal tongs) chicken from pan and place in a baking dish and bake in oven for 15 minutes.

While the chicken finishes cooking put the same pan on the range on medium high and melt the “fake” butter and add the flour.  Whisk the flour/butter for about 30 seconds to a minute, making sure it doesn’t burn away.  Add the chicken stock, vinegar, wine and allow to thicken.  Finally, add the milk and mustard(s), mix and reduce heat to low until you are ready to use it.

When the chicken is done, cut it in half (careful for squirting—hot cheese) to show off the center.  Plate it and cover with your sauce.

Notes:

I use an old stand-by recipe by Rachel Ray that I’ve done for years and tweaked it to my liking.  I changed measurements from said recipe and added or swapped items.  I also adjusted timing which is not noted here.

Tweaks:

I cut out some things that are unnecessary (health-wise) or changed ‘em up for something different.

Instead of 1 full cup of blue cheese, I used only 1/2 cup of gorgonzola—a lot of cheese is not necessary when dealing with such powerful flavors.

Instead of regular bacon, I used turkey bacon.  The turkey bacon has fewer calories and less fat than regular bacon but note that it can have higher sodium-hence my choice to not use extra salt.  It's not missed though, thanks to the power of the gorgonzola.
I cut the stock in half for more flavor in the form of substituted white wine and vinegar.
We don't keep "real" butter in rotation at our place-though it's around from time to time when you can't skip the "fake" stuff,like in some baking....so I used Smart Balance(less cholesterol).
I am not a fan of scallions for this recipe as they often are too much a standout.  I prefer the sweeter, mellower shallot which works nicely with my addition of jalapeño which gives the chicken a kick.

Verdict: Success

This recipe is definitely deemed Neighbor-worthy.

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