Italian Stuffed Chicken

Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 200 g fresh spinach, washed
• 200 g mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped (optional)
• 2 (400 g) cans chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 chicken stock cube
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Recipe

• 1 heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and sauté half of the chopped onion until soft.
• 2 add the spinach and continue cooking over a medium heat, adding a touch of water if needed, until the spinach is wilted.
• 3 take off the heat and let cool for a moment, before stirring in just over half of the mozzarella cheese.
• 4 cool until you can comfortably handle the mixture.
• 5 meanwhile, cut a slit lengthways along each chicken breast but be careful not to cut them in half.
• 6 you want to end up with a little pouch in each one.
• 7 when the spinach mixture is cool, stuff each breast with as much of the mixture as you can.
• 8 you may not use it all.
• 9 cover the chicken with some cling film and set in the fridge while you make the sauce.
• 10 heat some more olive oil in a saucepan and sauté the remaining onion and jalapeno pepper until soft.
• 11 add the chopped tomatoes, water, stock cube and oregano.
• 12 simmer for about 10 minutes until the flavours blend and the mixture starts to thicken.
• 13 stir in the tomato paste, season with salt and pepper and let simmer a few minutes more until you have a fairly thick sauce.
• 14 preheat the oven to 180 c or 350 degrees f.
• 15 put enough sauce in a casserole dish to cover the bottom.
• 16 lay in the chicken breasts and then cover with the remaining sauce.
• 17 bake for 40-45 minutes, then pull out of the oven briefly to scatter the remaining mozarella cheese on top.
• 18 turn on the grill and cook just until the cheese is bubbling and browned.