Hazelnut + Blueberry Stuffed Chicken

Well, this year has been weird. I made this recipe in SEPTEMBER and then just forgot about anything that wasn’t virtual school or the day to day insanities of still sheltering in place. Combine that with the mom rage I feel that IF ONLY MORE PEOPLE WERE SHELTERING IN PLACE MAYBE MY KIDS COULD GO BACK TO SCHOOL and you get a wall keeping out any and all extra thoughts and creativity. But HUZZAH! While scrolling through photos to send to Max’s teacher, I found the pictures I took back in September. I was like, “Ooh that looks yummy! Oh yeah I made that!”

Do you remember September? I don’t. Was it 6 weeks ago? 6 months ago? Last year. Who the heck knows. This recipe was supposed to be an end of summer/start of fall recipe using summer berries and sage which always reminds me of warm and cozy foods. It may not be summer anymore, but thankfully we can pretty much buy blueberries year-round. Feel free to sub fresh berries for frozen!

Now that my creative juices are flowing I’m going to attempt to make a bunch of new yummy things and just stock up on recipes so that when the wall starts building back up I can still show up and hopefully inspire you too! I can’t be the only one struggling with creative bandwidth when it comes to feeding the family! Anywho. I don’t have any other fancy words for you today. Just give this dinner a try. It just may be the thing to get you out of any meal planning rut you may be in!

Hazelnut + Blueberry Stuffed Chicken

Chicken breast stuffed with a lemon ricotta filling, crusted with hazelnuts, and drizzled with a savory blueberry sauce

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Course Dinner, Holiday Meals, Main Course, Meat+Fish

Equipment

• Toothpicks
• food processor
• Cast-iron skillet or baking pan

Ingredients

  

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• salt
• pepper

Ricotta Filling:

• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• lemon juice to taste I used about 1/4 lemon

Crunchy Hazelnut Topping:

• 1/2 cup hazelnuts
• 1/4 panko crumbs
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• pinch of pepper

Savory Blueberry Sauce:

• 1 cup blueberries fresh or frozen
• 2 tbsp fresh sage chopped
• Juice of 1/2 lemon or a few tbsp of water if the blueberries are tart
• salt to taste

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Using a pairing knife, cut a small slit into each chicken breast. The goal here is to make a pocket for the filling, so be careful not to cut all the way through or butterfly it. Start with a small slit, then use your fingers to make the pocket large enough for the filling.
• Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper.
• Make the Ricotta Filling by combining all of the filling ingredients. Then stuff about 1-2 tbsp of filling into each chicken pocket (this depends on the size of your chicken breasts).
• Seal each chicken breast with toothpicks to keep the filling inside.
• Make the Crunchy Hazelnut topping by adding all of the topping ingredients into a food processor. Pulse until the nuts are chopped and everything is combined.
• Pour the topping into a dish (pie plate, shallow bowl, brownie pan).
• Take the stuffed chicken breasts and gently press them into the hazelnut topping.
• Place the chicken on to an oiled baking pan or cast-iron skillet. If there are any gaps in the topping, just sprinkling a little more on top.
• Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the chicken reaches an internal temp of 165.
• If the nuts start to get too dark, cover with foil until the chicken is cooked through.