Jack welcomes back frequent guest, Melissa Welch, Alabama National Fair Blue Ribbon Winner to share with us her Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Chicken Breast recipe.
[Music] and welcome in to Bonap Petit. You know, the Alabama National Fair is right around the corner, October 3rd to the 13th. A great time for fun, especially for the grandchildren. And of course, you as viewers, go to the fair. Go to the creative living section and look for the cooking competition. Melissa Welch is here today. A number one winner for many, many years. And today you’ve got a stuffed chicken breast. Yes, that’s correct. Artichoke. Yes. And I love artichokes. I do too. It’s a spinach artichoke chicken breast. And this was in a stuffed the chicken category. We have different categories that we follow. And I thought trying to come up with something different. Um I thought I love spinach artich choke dip. So let’s put them in a chicken breast. Isn’t that amazing? That’s how that’s how I came up with this one. But it looks like a lot of ingredients and it is. But it’s it’s worth the effort. And I bet you that keeps that chicken breast moist. It does. Yes, it does. See, that’s the key. That’s my big thing on chicken. Don’t give me the breast cuz it’s dry. Well, these are good so far. I’ve made it a few times and it’s it’s really good. But you can see some of the ingredients that we had. We start out with boneless chicken breast and um this does four. So, you can cut this recipe in half if you’d like to because actually these are so large they could be cut in half and that’s definitely would serve eight people rather than four people. Um, so you could cut them in half, but you um uh you cut it you cut the chicken breast and you don’t go all the way through. That’s one of the things that’s kind of a little tricky. You don’t go all the way through, but you make a pocket and then you have all kind of goodies that you can see here and we’ll have the recipe ready and and all the ingredients and amounts for you. But it’s full of good things like artichoke cart, spinach, um parmesan cheese, sundried tomato pesto, and lots of flavors, chicken broth, and then the the next component of this is once you get this baked, you you sear it in a skillet for just a couple minutes on each side until it browns. And then you put it in the oven and you finish it off for about 20 25 minutes in the oven. So, it’s a really easy to prepare meal and quick meal once you get it made up. Um but the the second component of this is a sundried tomato caper um sauce which is basically you know it it’s it’s really good. It’s it’s adds a richness and a good flavor to it. Um but it has heavy cream which balances it out and makes it just rich and good. But the capers add a little bit of a I love flavor. Don’t you love capers? I think it’s one of those things you either love them or you hate them or you hate them. People What are those little dots doing in there? Those are capers, right? But it’s a good dish. But like I said, you can get the recipe with all the ingredients. I won’t go through all of that today. But I just want to say that one thing that’s important is is to always when you’re cooking is to check your temperature of your food, especially chicken. And the chicken needs to reach 165°. And these are so handy. I keep this in I have a couple in my kitchen drawer. So easy to to read the temperature so that your food is safe. And we have to abide by those rules too as as we’re competing with the food. And that’s sometimes a little tricky and a little challenging. Yes. Especially when you drive from home, you prepare the food at home and you drive from home and then you you know you have to have it there. But I would just encourage um the listeners if you have a dish that you’d like. There are lots of categories this time. There are 14 categories. Go online and they’re all different. Every year it changes. Um, go go go on and take a look and register and bring your favorite dish to the fair. I think you’ll be be pleased. Yep. There’s a lot of folks that are there. And remember, the Alabama National Fair is right around the corner. Did you want to cut into one of those? I do. I would like to do that. That’s okay. Not a problem. Let me cut one. This way. You can get You can get an idea on how Yes. And you can already see how it’s nicely stuffed. Yep. Let’s see how it goes here. And the aroma, oh my gosh, the juices are still at the top, but you have a pocket and you have the the um the stuffing right in there, but then you add a little bit of um little bit of the sauce to it. Mhm. Carefully do that. And you’ve got Now, see, if I did that, I’d have it all over the table. You have a very nice dish. That’s beautiful. That’s beautiful. Pair that with a It looks nice. It the aroma is fantastic. And I’m sure the taste is two thumbs up. It is. Great, Melissa. Thank you so much because you’re you’re just wonderful to have on because you know what you’re doing. That’s half the battle, kid. I’ve cooked for a lot of years. She did. I’m not always perfect, but it’s usually tastes good. No, you’re fine. And it looks great. The ingredients are very simple, very easy to get, and you’re going to have a winning meal for your family. And we’ll be right back right after this.
Dining and Cooking