Another month has quickly gone by and now it's time to highlight one special lady as part of the Secret Recipe Club. Today it's an honor to be highlighting Karen from Lavender and Lovage. Karen splits her time between North Yorkshire and southwest France and has the most amazing landscape and food photography on her site. Just a warning: the photographs on her site will keep you there for hours.
This time of year the garden begins to overflow and the dog days of summer are in full swing. So of course I gravitated towards the garden and salad recipes. Â I was also in a Jane Eyre type mood. Just returning from the Shakespeare Festival where my sister in laws and I spent the afternoon watching the girly favorite "Sense and Sensibility" on stage made me crave the beautiful English countryside and food.
We could only highlight one recipe today, but these others also caught our eye as great recipes that really utilize your overflowing summer garden vegetables:
Egg & Tomato Salad with Marigold and Chives, Potato and Radish Salad, Vegetarian Sandwich
Today we're featuring her bacon wrapped chicken with goat's cheese and basil. It was delicious and great as a Sunday night dinner for friends and family who came over.
Ingredients
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1-2 teaspoons garlic granules
- 4 slices goat cheese
- 4-8 slices bacon
- 4 basil sprigs
- Salt and pepper
- Toothpicks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
- In each chicken breast, cut a deep pocket. Fill the pocket with ¼-1/2 teaspoon of garlic granules and one slice of goat cheese. Make sure the cheese is stuffed well inside the pocket of the chicken.
- Wrap the chicken in 1-2 slices of bacon (depending on the size of the chicken breast). Secure with a toothpick. Make sure the ends of the bacon are secured on the underside of the chicken. Arrange chicken in baking pan.
- Garnish each chicken with one sprig of basil and lightly sprinkle salt and pepper over each chicken breast. Cover and store in refrigerator until ready to cook or begin the cooking process immediately.
- To Cook: Bake at 375 degrees uncovered for 25-30 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked. For crispier bacon, remove chicken breasts from the pan and pan fry in a heated frying pan for 2-3 minutes each side of the chicken. (Remove the basil sprigs prior to pan frying).Place chicken back in the baking pan, garnish with the basil sprigs and bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes. If bacon is not as crispy as you would like you can also place it under the broiler for 1-2 minutes prior to removing from the oven.
- To Serve: Serve with salad, potatoes or quinoa.
Notes
This meal makes a great freezer meal too! Simply assemble each chicken breast as directed, then wrap and freeze for up to one month. When ready to cook, defrost in the refrigerator and cook according to directions.
If you love this recipe, check out these other great recipes this month:
What a nice recipe! I love goat cheese with chicken, but never paired them with bacon, very elegant and stylish...
great choice!
WOW! Thanks so much for your LOVELY post and for choosing one of my favourite recipes to make for SRC and Group D! I love your blog and I am thrilled that you were assigned me this month! Karen
Isn't Karen's blog lovely. Lucky you for getting her as your secret partner this month
You had me at bacon and goat cheese! This sounds so fantastic!! Great pick this month 🙂
Bacon, goat cheese and basil? Sold! Great SRC pick!
Yum! Great flavor combinations-- bacon makes everything amazing 🙂
What an amazing combination of flavors.. of course anything with bacon!
Yum! Anything bacon wrapped is good in my book! Great SRC pick! 🙂
Anything with bacon and goat cheese has got to be good!
I love Karen's blog - it's utterly gorgeous and one of my favourite blogs to visit on a regular basis - always inspiring. I know I would have a tough time choosing what to make from her blog, but this was a great choice - it's a dish I know we would love around here.
Sue
Mmmm... what a wonderful combination of flavors - great SRC pick this month!
What a great combination of flavors - and perfect for a summer dinner party. So elegant!