Say Cheese! Then Add Prosciutto.

Chicken. I never order it at a restaurant. Everything tastes like it, but that is not necessarily a good thing. Chicken is the tofu of the meat eating world, bland unless you give it a bit of help. I am going to do my part in alleviating this crisis by adding two of my favorite foods to chicken - ricotta cheese and prosciutto. Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 4):

4 boneless skinned chicken breasts

6 tbsp fat-free ricotta cheese

2 tsp sage

1 lemon zested

1/3 lb. American prosciutto

1 tbsp fresh thyme

olive oil, black pepper, & sea salt

7 ft. cooking twine

1. Cut a slit in the chicken breast about 3/4 of the way down from the top.

2. In a mixing bowl, add the ricotta, sage, and lemon zest. Mix thoroughly.

      Tip: When making any filling with ricotta, opt for the fat-free version. It will be less milky and creamy than more full fat versions so during cooking there is not excess liquid. If you want a more full fat version, drain it before starting step 2.

3. Drizzle olive oil over the chicken breasts and season with thyme, salt, and pepper.

4. Add the ricotta filling to the slit in the chicken breast you made in step 1. Try not to overfill it.

5. Time for the prosciutto. There are two methods here. One, you can cover the filling completely by placing prosciutto from the top down. Two, my method, you can partially cover the filling by starting from the top and going clockwise then counterclockwise until your chicken is covered.

6. Wrap the chicken in cooking twine so it does not open during cooking. An alternative if you don't have cooking twine is to tightly wrap each of the breasts in cellophane and let cool in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours. This will help keep it together during cooking.

7. Preheat and oven to 375 degrees and cook the chicken for 15 to 20 minutes. 

8. If you opted against my wrapping method in step 5, simply serve. Otherwise I like to finish off the breasts in the broiler.  Turn on the broiler and add the breasts for a minute. This will be long enough to crisp the top of the cheese filling.

9. Serve with any of your favorite sides or pastas.