Spinach and Feta-Stuffed Chicken Breast with Accordion Potatoes

We eat a lot of chicken in my house, and I was getting a bit bored of having it the usual way. I thought I would try stuffing it, because what doesn't taste better with cheese, am I right?  This was so delicious!!  We also eat a lot of potatoes, and this is one of the more creative ways to fancy up a normal, baked potato.  Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 Chicken Breasts (4 - 6 oz)
90 grams Feta (I used goat feta)
6 pieces of sun-dried tomato
2 Eggs
2 Cups Bread Crumbs 
1 Cup White Flour 
Spinach
Garlic
Russet Potatoes
Oil
salt and pepper


Directions:

1)  Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.

2)  The potatoes will take about an hour to cook, so you want to put them on before the chicken, which only takes 40 minutes.  Stab each potato with a fork so it won't explode in the microwave.  Microwave each potato for about 2.5 to 3 minutes each, they can all go in together.  For example, if you are doing three potatoes put them in for about 7.5 to 9 minutes.

3)  Give the potatoes some time to cool once they are out of the microwave because you will need to be able to handle them for the next step.  In order to create the accordion effect you want to slice the potato straight down, leaving about .25 to .5 of an inch at the bottom.  Do this across the whole potato, and then add sliced pieces of garlic in between the slats.  Sprinkle with dried rosemary, salt, and pepper.  I would recommend putting these in the oven before you start your chicken so they will be done around the same time.

4)  Using a sharpish knife, cut your chicken breast butterfly style.  Don't worry, it doesn't have to be pretty, just make sure you don't cut it all the way, leave about .25 to .5 inch connecting the two halves.

5)  Combine the chopped spinach, chopped sun-dried tomato and crumbled feta.  Spread 1/3 of the mixture evenly across the chicken breast.  Fold the top back over and place on a baking sheet.

6)  Now it is time to bread the chicken breasts.  This part is totally optional, of course!  The breading helps to keep the chicken moist but it is still awesome without this step.  Put the flour, beaten egg, and breadcrumbs in three separate bowls.  Dip the chicken in the flour, then the egg, and then the bread crumbs.  Place back on greased baking dish.

7)  Bake the chicken for 40 minutes, and the potato for an hour.

This was so good, I think I am going to have it again tomorrow =P

Baked Fries

Cooked.

 These fries are so quick and easy you can even throw them together for lunch like I did today!

 Ingredients:

 

1 Russet Potato
3 Cloves of Garlic
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

Directions:


1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and  grease a baking pan.  I like to put tin foil in the pan because it means less mess later.


2.   The potato in this recipe does not get pre-cooked, so you just cut it into whatever size fries you like.  I just made enough to have for lunch, but you can add more potatoes depending on how many servings you want.


3.   Place the potato on the baking pan and add the chopped garlic.  I like things to be REALLY garlicy so you may want to add the garlic to your taste.

Pre-cooked.

Pre-cooked.

4.   Sprinkle with oil, salt and pepper and put in oven.  Cook for approximately 45 minutes or until the fries are golden brown and a fork can go through them smoothly.
 

Cooked!

Poached Salmon

Poaching involves cooking in liquid.  It is one of my favourite ways of cooking because there are a lot of variations, there is very little clean-up afterwards and it is great for those days when you don't want to eat out but you also don't want to spend a ton of time cooking.

This particular recipe is salmon poached in vegetable broth with nugget potatoes, garlic and spinach.  Normally when I poach fish I will just use water, and add something citrus like lemon juice or orange slices.  Cooking in liquid makes whatever you are cooking super juicy and everything you cook with it (like the potatoes and spinach) absorb the flavour of the garlic, juice, broth or whatever else you put in there.  Any kind of fish would be awesome with this recipe, and it doesn't have to be a huge filet, you can do the single serving filets as well.

Ingredients:

4 cups of liquid (I used vegetable brot, but you can use water as well)
Fish (This is a salmon filet, but any kind of fish would do)
Basil (We had some fresh basil from our garden, but you could use dried herbs as well, Dill is great with fish)
Salt and Pepper to taste
3 or 4 cloves of garlic 
15 Nugget Potatoes
2 handfuls of Spinach
2 TB Olive Oil

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Place fish in a large oven-safe pan.  Pour liquid over fish.

3.  Salt and Pepper to taste.  You want your liquid to be flavourful because it is going to be absorbed by everything in the pan.  If you are using water make sure to add something flavourful, such as lemon juice.

4.  Chop up garlic and cut nugget potatoes in half.  Place these in the broth.  Place spinach on top, making sure most of it is submerged in the liquid.  Drizzle oil on top and add more salt and pepper if desired.

5. Cook for 20 minutes and then stir the spinach so that the rest becomes submerged.  The spinach will float at first but once it has cooked awhile it will begin to wilt.  You want to make sure that it does not spend all 40 minutes of the cooking time above the surface of the liquid or it will get dry and crunchy. 

6.  Place back in oven for an additional 20 minutes making it 40 minutes total.  Check to make sure the liquid is bubbling at this point, if it is not you may want to consider turning your oven up to 425.

7.  Once the time is up take the dish out of the oven.  Poke the potatoes with a fork to make sure they are cooked through.  Also check the salmon, you will know that it is fully cooked when it flakes with a fork, as shown below.

Enjoy!