Chicken, Boursin cheese tasty combination

The Spokesman-Review Reader Food Panel member Peggy Kazanis recently was chatting with food editor Lorie Hutson and mentioned a dish she had at a couple different restaurants.

First was a chicken breast stuffed with spinach and Boursin cheese and served in a tomato bernaise sauce, which Kazanis had for lunch at the Palm Court Grill at the Davenport Hotel. Later, at Churchill’s, she enjoyed a chicken florentine dish that featured pan-seared chicken stuffed with spinach, shallots and fontina cheese and served with hollandaise sauce.

Hutson and I wondered about re-creating the dish at home. Two problems, however. One is that the chicken dish wasn’t on the menu the day I stopped by the Palm Court. The second is that while it’s still on Churchill’s lunch menu, it’s $27. That’s a bit beyond my lunch budget.

So I’d be flying blind on this one. As it turned out, flying blind can be a good thing.

My cookbook collection came up empty on similar dishes, so I hit the Web. Pages of “chicken florentine” recipes popped up. Turns out creating the ultimate chicken florentine is like creating the ultimate lasagna – there are no right answers.

I found recipes using blue cheese, gorgonzola, smoked provolone, ricotta and goat cheese. Others called for prosciutto or bacon. There were casserole-style chicken florentine dishes and rolled chicken dishes. Some featured the spinach and cheese perched on top of the chicken, while others stuffed the filling inside the breast.

Using a recipe for spinach and blue cheese-stuffed chicken breasts I found at myrecipes.com – the official site for recipes from Cooking Light, Southern Living, Sunset, Coastal Living, Cottage Living and Health magazines – I set about re-creating Kazanis’ restaurant meal. I aimed to keep it simple. I went with garlic and herb Boursin, a French soft cheese, because my local grocery store didn’t carry fontina. It proved to be a good move. I didn’t have to add herbs or garlic to the filling because the cheese already was flavorful. I opted to make a hollandaise simply because I’d never made one before.

The most difficult task was slicing the pockets into the chicken breast. But even that went smoothly. I turned the breast on its side and gently cut down, stopping at the point the breast begins to taper. Use your sharpest knife and take it carefully.

The result is a delicious and gratifying entree. The Boursin gets warm inside the chicken but doesn’t get all messy and melty. It’s a very nice taste combination.

A final note on timing. I’d begin making the hollandaise sauce after the chicken’s been in the oven for about 10 minutes. Using cookbook author Mark Bittman’s blender method, the sauce comes together very quickly. While he says it will keep warm for up to 30 minutes, it does thicken as it sits, so I’d recommend serving it sooner, not later.

Stuffed Chicken Florentine

2 cups baby spinach, washed

2 tablespoons minced shallots, about 4 small

4 ounces Boursin cheese (see note)

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Hollandaise sauce (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put a pot of salted water on to boil.

When water is boiling, add spinach and cook quickly until just wilted. Remove spinach to a bowl of ice water to stop cooking. Retrieve spinach and squeeze out as much water as possible. Roughly chop and place in a bowl.

Crumble Boursin cheese into the bowl with the spinach and add shallots. Mix to combine. Set aside.

Hold each chicken piece vertical to a work surface and with a very sharp knife, carefully cut a slit into the thickest part of the meat. The idea is to make a pocket. Try not to cut all the way through. Fill each pocket with one-fourth of the cheese mixture and seal the opening with a toothpick. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.

Heat oil in an ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to the pan and brown about 5 minutes each side. Place skillet in the oven and cook until chicken is done, about 20 minutes, or when a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat registers 165 degrees.

Drizzle each piece of chicken with two tablespoons of hollandaise sauce and serve.

Note: I used the garlic and herb flavored Boursin and was pleased with the results. The pepper and shallot and chive flavors also would work. Or, substitute your favorite melting cheese, such as fontina.

Yield: 4 servings

Nutrition per serving, using fontina cheese: 567 calories, 45 grams fat (22 grams saturated, 72 percent fat calories), 36 grams protein, 2 grams carbohydrate, 327 milligrams cholesterol, less than 1 gram dietary fiber, 833 milligrams sodium.

Hollandaise Sauce

From “How to Cook Everything” by Mark Bittman

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

3 egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon salt

Pinch dry mustard or cayenne

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, or more to taste

Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat or in a microwave; do not let it brown.

Combine all the other ingredients in a blender and turn on the machine. Drizzle in the warm butter. The mixture will thicken. Taste and add more lemon juice or other seasonings if necessary.

Transfer to a container and serve or keep the sauce warm by placing it in a bowl and nesting the bowl in a pan filled with very hot water, stirring occasionally, for up to 30 minutes.

Note: Consuming raw or undercooked eggs may put people at risk for salmonella infection.

Yield: 1 cup sauce, about 4 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: 249 calories, 27 grams fat (15 grams saturated, 95 percent fat calories), 2 grams protein, less than 1 gram carbohydrate, 221 milligrams cholesterol, no dietary fiber, 530 milligrams sodium.