Artichoke-stuffed chicken breasts, grilled

November 15, 2010

This was terrific! The stuffing is really easy to make and everything is ready just as the briquettes are ready.

Artichoke-stuffed chicken breasts, from Weber’s big book of BBQ, pg 252

For the stuffing:

2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp dried thyme
¼ tsp crushed dried red pepper flakes
1 jar (7 oz) artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
¼ tsp sea or kosher salt
¼ freshly ground pepper
3 oz crumbled goat cheese
3 T minced sun-dried tomatoes, oil packed
2 T finely chopped fresh basil

4 large boneless chicken breast halves
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

to make the stuffing: In a skillet or sauce pan, add the oil, thyme and red pepper flakes. Heat to warm. Add the artichoke hearts and garlic salt and pepper. Raise the heat to medium and cook for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and add the chopped artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes. Let cool.

In the mean time, place the chicken breasts between two pieces of wax paper and pound with a meat mallet until 1/4 inch thick. Lay flat and stuff with stuffing (half a side only). Fold over and pin closed with toothpicks. Lightly cover with olive oil and salt and pepper.

Grill over Direct Medium coals for 8-12 minutes, turning once during cooking. Remove from the grill and remove the toothpicks.

How I did it: I didn’t have fresh basil (oops) or dried basil (double oops) so I used its herbal cousin, oregano. This was really good. Some toasted pine nuts might be really good with this, or toasted almond slivers. Hmmm... I served it with grilled zucchini and summer squash—cuz how easy is that?? Cut the squash in half, coat with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and grill flesh side down until done (same length of time as the chicken). Grilled asparagus would also be good.