Picnic Chicken Pinwheels
This recipe is a bit labour-intensive up front. But once it's made, it's great cold in a picnic basket, or as a leftover dinner on a hot night. Yes, it's got spinach in it...maybe a way to get your kids to eat it?
Ingredients
- 4 cups tightly packed fresh spinach leaves
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 2 tbsp parsley chopped fresh flat-leaf
- 3 Egg large
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1 pinch Pepper
- 1 pinch nutmeg of grated
- 1 clove garlic mashed clove
- 2 pounds chicken breasts boneless, skinless, pounded flat
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 Ketchup or store-bought (or homemade!)
- 1 cup pine nuts toasted pine nuts (optional)
Instructions
Make the filling
- Bring 1/2-inch of water to a boil in a wide pot.
- Add the spinach and cook until it just wilts, about 1 minute.
- Drain the spinach well. let it cool.
- Use your hands to squeeze any water from the spinach and then set on a cutting board.
- Coarsely chop the spinach and then set in a medium bowl.
- Add the ricotta, the 1 egg, parsley, Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, pepper and nutmeg, and optional pine nuts. Combine.
Stuff the chicken
- Place an equal amount of the ricotta filling in the centre of each breast that has been pounded flat.
- Fold 2 sides of each breast partially over the filling and then tightly roll it up to seal the filling inside.
- Place the flour, lightly-beaten eggs, and breadcrumbs on separate plates.
- Then dip chicken in: flour, eggs, crumbs.
- Place the oil in a large skillet set over medium, to medium-high heat.
- When hot, add the chicken, lightly brown on all sides, and then set on a foil-lined baking sheet, seam-side down.
- Bake the chicken 30-40 minutes, at 375 until cooked through.
- Allow chicken to cool, before serving.
- Slice in disks, and serve with ketchup or tomato pasta sauce for dipping.
