Mozzarella and Basil Stuffed Chicken

Thanks to my amazing Aerogarden, I’m always looking for delicious things to cook with all my basil. Well, this dish was very delicious! Chicken tenderloins stuffed with garlic, mozzarella, and basil in a creamy mushroom sauce or garlicky red sauce. Yum.

Oh my gosh, my mouth is watering writing this post.  This was the kind of dish where the chicken was good on its own and the sauce was good on its own, but together, oh man. Oh man.  Together, it was just so good.

I basically followed this recipe from SouthernFood.About.com but I changed it up a tiny bit, using chicken tenderloins for little roll-ups instead of full chicken breasts, just because that’s what I had on hand, because I like cooking with chicken tenderloins for some reason.

So here’s what I did.  (I’m not going to re-write the recipe for you, but I’ll show you what I did and what I changed!)

I set the oven to preheat at 375 degrees, and I got to work pounding the chicken. A meat mallet would have worked better than my rolling pin, but either I don’t have one or I don’t know where mine is.

Chop up some basil and sauté some minced garlic in butter, then put that deliciousness together.

Then I got my little stuffing station together: the basil/garlic mix, some shredded mozzarella, and some bread crumbs. (I skipped the egg wash part. Eh, it just seemed like an extra step that I didn’t need to take.)

I spread on some of the basil/garlic, sprinkled the mozz on, added some salt and pepper, then rolled/folded the chicken tenderloin into thirds. Then I dipped the little roll into the bread crumbs (and made sure to coat it all over!) and…

…placed them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

I sprinkled some extra mozz and breadcrumbs on top. :)  Then they went in the oven to bake for about 30 minutes (but definitely check your time. I was not scientific about it, so I can’t remember how long they really were in there.)

While they were baking, I worked on making two different sauces! A creamy mushroom sauce for me (from the recipe) and a red sauce for Brandon.

I followed the mushroom sauce recipe pretty closely, but I left out the green onions (just because I didn’t have any), I used half and half instead of cream (again, just what’s in the house), and a bullion cube to make my own “broth.” Let me tell you, that mushroom sauce was ah.may.zing.  Seriously so good. I could just eat it on its own. Really, what’s the difference between creamy mushroom sauce and creamy mushroom soup? Not much, I think.

The red sauce I make is pretty easy and delicious. I put about 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and let it warm up, then I add a teaspoon or so of minced garlic.  I let that warm up a bit, then add a can of tomatoes, diced or crushed, or sauce or whatever you’ve got. And I let it cook/simmer for a while to take out the acidic tomato taste and let it taste like garlic. While it’s cooking (probably about halfway through), I add the chopped fresh basil. Along the way, I’ll add salt, pepper, and a little sugar to taste.  Oh. My. Yum.  I’ll try to take some better measurements as I’m cooking it next time, but it’s one of those things I eyeball as I go. But it is so simple and delicious!  And since Brandon prefers red sauce to cream sauce, I’m glad to have an easy, go-to recipe for it.

Let’s just look at the mushroom-sauce picture one more time to make us hungry.

Yum!!!  Again, here’s the recipe I followed.

Are you cooking tonight? :)