A Mediterranean Inspired Chicken Dish

The packages of chicken breasts that we buy usually contain two breasts, which is too many for a single meal for the two of us.  So the first one was used for the Chicken Paprikash I posted the other day,  Last night I used the second one, making a stuffed chicken breast, cherry tomatoes roasted with a little salt and olive oil, and pan roasted potatoes.

I started by cutting the chicken breast crossways, but not all the way through, so I could open it up and then flattened it between waxed paper sheets to about 1/4" maybe even a bit less.  Try to flatten it evenly as it makes rolling up easier.

First I spread a layer of goat cheese over the breast. I fried a couple of slices of Pancetta (Italian bacon) until crispy and crumbled that on top,  Added a couple of sundried tomatoes chopped and wonderful Kalamata olives.

Rolled up the chicken breast and let it sit in the refrigerator for about a half hour to get it to sort of hold it's shape.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In one bowl, put a little flour; in a second bowl beat one egg and in a third bowl put a layer of Panko for the coatings.

Haven't used PANKO before?  Run, don't walk, to your local specialty store and try them.  You will never go back to breadcrumbs again!! (except homemade, of course!)  Anyway, Panko is Japanese bread crumbs and very light and airy and crisps up soooo great!!  Love this product!

Back to our chicken breast.  First roll the breast in the flour, then in the egg (flour first gives the egg something to hold onto!), and finally in the Panko,.  Place in  a small baking dish and cook aout 1/2 hour until chicken measures around 160 degrees.

I made a  buerre blanc sauce and added the last bit of goat cheese to it as a topping.  It was really good!  All we needed was to be sitting on the Mediterranean seaside.