Now Bake Us Some Figgy Chicken

For all of you Scrooge's out there, that is a play on the popular Christmas song, "We Wish You A Merry Christmas."  You know..."Now bring us some figgy pudding..."  Now that we have that straight, please go to your kitchen and make this recipe ASAP.

As I was brainstorming meal ideas for this week, I decided that I wanted to make some sort of stuffed baked chicken.  I feel like goat cheese and figs are a combination that you often see in restaurants, so why not be the star of my chicken?  I made this recipe up as I went along and it came out quite tasty if I do say so myself.  Please give it a try and let me know what you think!


Goat Cheese & Fig Stuffed Chicken
Serves 2

Ingredients:

•  2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup dried figs, chopped
• 1/2 cup marsala cooking wine
• 3 oz goat cheese
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp margarine
• salt
• pepper

Directions:

1) Chop figs and mix them together with the goat cheese, allspice, and 1/4 cup of marsala.  Set aside.

 2) Cut a pocket in each chicken breast by pressing down on the chicken with the palm of your hand while making an incision in the thickest part.  Carefully slice to make a pocket, keeping the other side of the chicken breast intact.

3) Open each chicken breast and pound to flatten.  Salt and pepper both sides to taste.

 4) Stuff each chicken breast with the goat cheese mixture.

 5) Fold the top of each chicken breast over to cover the cheese mixture and place in a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.

 6) Microwave the margarine and the remaining 1/4 cup of marsala for about 30 seconds (until melted) and pour over the chicken breasts before placing in the oven.

7) Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes.