Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken with Green Chile Cilantro Sauce

Yes, it's true.

I'm almost a month late with sharing the Cinco de Mayo inspired recipe with you.  You aren't surprised, are you?   Every day is the right day for Mexican though, isn't it?  We certainly think so in our household.

Just think.... you will have a head start on next year's Cinco de Mayo festivities!   You can practice up between now and then because I wouldn't wait that long to make this particular dish if I were you.  I'm certainly not going to wait that long.  I am looking forward to making it again.....particularly the sauce.  It's that good.

When I made this for Cinco de Mayo this year, I had been thinking of making some sort of stuffed chicken breasts for quite some time.  I had some plain goat cheese in the fridge and thought maybe I would use that with some spinach and sundried tomatoes and make something Italian with pasta as the side or maybe make risotto again.

Then Cinco de Mayo loomed and I had a half eaten bag of blue corn tortilla chips that were not fresh enough to enjoy with salsa or guacamole.

 

And I was able to score some marked down veggies at the store that were just begging to be roasted like grape tomatoes...

 

and bell peppers and poblano peppers and since I was going to roast them, I added a shallot and a head of garlic which I wrapped up in aluminum foil on the tray.

 

And I knew that I had to put them all together and create something unique and wonderful and Mexican inspired.  Instead of turning to the blogosphere this time for inspiration, I turned to a cookbook.  

{via}

Inside this book, Bobby shares Grilled Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Goat Cheese with Green Chile-Cilantro Sauce.   What a great starting point!  I knew that I wouldn't grill them since we weren't set up for grilling except for a mini Foreman grill at that time. I knew that I would change up the recipe for the goat cheese stuffing and use the roasted vegetables....but the sauce....it would be great just the way it was...well....almost...I thought that roasted garlic would be an improvement over the raw that he called for.   See, even Bobby Flay...who could cook anything for me any day, by the way....is not immune to my changing his recipes.  (I know you are laughing at me, Mary!  I can hear you from here!)

I like to think I improved it.  It was absolutely fantastic.  I certainly cannot imagine his version tasting as good as mine did.  You will want to make it yourself to see....particularly the sauce.  Did I mention how wonderful it was?!

So I present to you....

Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Green Chile Cilantro Sauce
Adapted from Bobby Flay's Grilling For Life

Green Chile-Cilantro Sauce:

2 poblano chiles, roasted and peeled*

1/4 cup coarsely chopped red onion

2 cloves garlic, roasted

3 T fresh lime juice

2 T water

2 tsp grated lime zest

2 tsp honey

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

*Note: There are lots of ways to roast veggies in the oven and on the grill. Google that and you will find the way that works best for you.  I'm all over the board with how I've done them over the years. Since moving to NH and having to use my convection toaster oven, I rubbed the veggies with olive oil and sea salt and placed them on a foil lined tray at 450 degrees until the skins were blackened, turning them often. 

Combine the roasted peppers, onion, garlic, lime juice, water, zest, honey, salt and pepper in a blender and blend until smooth.  While the motor is running, slowly drizzle in the oil and blend until emulsified.  Add the cilantro and blend until smooth.  If the sauce appears too thick, thin it by adding a few tablespoons of cold water. (Note: I did not have to add any water.) The sauce can be made up to 1 day in advance, covered and kept refrigerated.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts:

4 oz. soft goat cheese

2 bell peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup chopped, roasted tomatoes

Shallot, roasted and chopped

1/4 cup Monterey Jack Cheese, grated

salt and pepper, to taste

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (You can pound these out until they are thin or butterfly them.  David butterflied these for me.)

Weber Tex Mex Dry Rub Seasoning

Smoked Paprika

Crushed Blue Corn Tortilla Chips (optional)

Combine goat cheese, roasted peppers, roasted tomatoes and Monterey Jack cheese in a small bowl and set aside.  

Butterfly or pound your chicken breasts until they are thin.  Spread the goat cheese mixture on the chicken breasts and either fold one side over if you have butterflied them or roll them up, if you prefer.  Secure them with toothpicks.

I crushed tortilla chips and mixed some of the seasoning with the chips and attempted to dredge the chicken in the mixture.  It failed.  The chips wouldn't stick but the seasoning heavily coated the chicken.  I was a little afraid that it would be too salty so I attempted to scrape some of the seasoning off where I could.  That appeared to work because once I tasted the chicken, it was perfectly seasoned.  Next time, I will leave the tortilla chip idea by the wayside and just sprinkle the chicken with the seasoning.  That would be way easier and we honestly didn't miss the chip coating.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and the chicken is cooked through.

Remove from the baking pan and drizzle with the Chile-Cilantro Sauce.  I served this with Cilantro Lime Rice and sliced avocado.  This was definitely a keeper!

This post is being linked up here for Savory Sunday,
here for Not "Baaad" Sundays and
here for Hungry? Recipe Swap Sundays.

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful long weekend.  I'm going to try to take it easy today and catch up on some blog reading.  At least that's the plan at this time.  See you soon!

Thanks so much for stopping by!