Recipe Review/Remodel: Spinach Stuffed Chicken with Lemon-Basil Pasta

 

Every time I ask A-Dub what he wants for dinner he says this dish.  I will occasionally make it for him and then I remember why I don't . . . it's a bit involved.  But I have to say this past time I think I perfected it and it was worth it!  So I thought I'd share.

Disclaimer: I took pictures while I was making this because I personally feel like there should be a picture of every single dish in a cookbook.  If I don't know what it looks like, it's hard for me to get interested in it.  I think a lot of people feel this way . . . hence the advent of the food blog.  I love their photos not just because so many food bloggers are also talented photographers but also because I like the step-by-step instructions illustrated.  Makes it so easy!  So I took pictures too, however, I am no photographer, there was no lovely photo styling and I was taking pictures in the worst lighting possible. 

This recipe originated from a Men's Health article that A-Dub ripped out and asked me to make (I am the cook of the family.  A-Dub's idea of cooking is hamburger helper).  I've made a few of their recipes that he's requested and generally they are always just a bit off.  Like it needed more of this, more of that.  After making this dish probably 5 times I think I've finally worked out all of their kinks.

Without further adieu . . . . Spinach Stuffed Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta

Ingredients:

2 - 3 pounds chicken tenderloins

1 cup italian dressing

2 bags (or one big plastic box) of fresh baby spinach

5 roma tomatoes

1 medium onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 lemon (a big one)

1/2 cup (or more) Italian breadcrumbs

a lot of parmesan cheese (half a block if you are shredding/half a pre-shredded container)

1 package spaghetti (whole wheat is fine)

handful of fresh basil

butter or margarine

italian seasoning

salt

pepper

If you have time before dinner, pat your chicken tenders dry, season them with a little salt, pepper and Italian seasoning and put them in a big Ziploc to marinate.  Overnight if possible.

First you're going to make your stuffing.  It will need to cool off before you can stuff the chickens.  Preheat a medium to large-size skillet over medium (or medium-low) heat.  Dice your onion finely (especially if serving to toddlers! One big onion chunk will ruin a meal).  Add a few tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet and add onion.  Now would also be a good time to fill up a pot with water and salt for your spaghetti, and let it start getting hot.

Next add your minced garlic.

Do you have one of these guys?  It is one of my favorite kitchen gadgets (and I love kitchen gadgets so that's saying a lot).  I hate getting sticky fingers from trying to finely mince garlic and not sure how I feel about the jar of minced garlic.  I think it's kind of gross (guess I do know how I feel).  Plus these are so easy.  Pop your garlic clove in and smash!

Add the spinach, several handfuls at a time, until it cooks down.

Dice up three of the roma tomatoes, discarding the slimy seed portions.  Bleeech.  Add to your skillet.

Grate up a bunch of parmesan cheese.  1 cup or so?  My attitude when it comes to parm is more = better.  Love my microplane too.

Add the parmesan and breadcrumbs (you can eyeball those too) to the skillet.  Add salt, pepper and italian seasonings to taste.  Just a few sprinkles should do you.  Stir all together just until the cheese melts and  remove the skillet from heat and let it cool down.  Don't overstir and let your tomatoes break down too much or they will be a mess.

Get your tenders out of the fridge.  I like to lay them out to figure out which ones are the "adult" ones and which ones are the kid ones and which ones are going to be used in another meal later (i.e. they are too funky-shaped to be pounded flat and rolled up).

Place the tenders under a long piece of waxed paper and spread them out.  Then cover with another piece of waxed paper.

You don't need to pound them to smithereens.  They're just little chicken tenders so they aren't going to stand up to a super hard pounding.  

 

You want them to be about this flat.

 Peel back the top layer of waxed paper and get your assembly area set up.

Plop a spoonful of stuffing in the middle.  About 2 tablespoons full.

Roll the chicken up "jellyroll-style."

Set aside on a plate.

Side view.

Repeat process until all of your tenders are stuffed and rolled.

To cook, you can either saute in a skillet or grill these.  Despite the 100+ degree weather, I always prefer my chicken grilled.  Heat the grill to medium.  The tenders on the far left side are the funky-shaped ones that I couldn't roll up.

The great thing about these is because the chicken is so thin they cook up quickly.  A few minutes on each side should do.

Before you put your chicken on the grill, start cooking your spaghetti.  While it's cooking, dice up your remaining roma tomatoes (tossing the slimy seed part, bleeech).  Also tear your basil leaves in half or "run your knife" through them once.  I heard Rachel Ray say that you can bruise basil if you over chop it?  Also squeeze the juice from half of a lemon into a bowl and fish out the seeds and big pulp chunks.  Grate another cup of parmesan cheese.

Drain the pasta and immediately drop in 2-4 tablespoons of butter or margarine.  Add the lemon juice, tomatoes, basil, parmesan and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve chicken hot off the grill over warm pasta.  When you figure out how to time that all perfectly be sure and let me know! 

Serving note:  A-Dub and I each ate 3 "chickens" and the kids each ate 2, and I made enough to last us two nights.  I bought one of those big 3 pound bags of tenders where you never quite know what you're getting, so I had enough tenders for us to eat this two nights plus a few extras (the funky-shaped ones) to add to another dish.  You may want to cut this recipe in half.