Like so many I get inspiration for recipes from lots of places. Cooking shows, cook books – both new and vintage, restaurants, Instagram, and one of favorite places…. Pinterest. It happens to also be one my husband’s favorite sites.
One afternoon, while scrolling through the site, my husband landed on a recipe from eatwell101.com – Spinach Chicken Casserole with Cream Cheese and Mozzarella. As he does when wants to drop me a hint….he will send me a link to the recipe. That day the moons aligned, or should I say his recipe hint and my refrigerator, came together. As I read through the recipe, I realized that I had all the ingredients in my fridge. I was hoping to use up some fresh spinach and mozzarella I had on hand and this was a perfect way to do that. When I
cook, I look to a recipe for inspiration. To be thought starter and guide. This is why I cook and not bake. A little of this and a little of that works when you cook, but not for baking. Luckily, as sisters we cover both. When looking at this, I knew I didn’t want to start with raw chicken. Sometimes, depending on the size and thickness of the chicken, it can take much longer to cook than the other ingredients. You can end up with undercooked chicken or everything else overcooked. That’s why I decided to par cook the chicken breasts. I also had fresh basil I wanted to use, so I opted to make pesto to add to the cream cheese. I think this adds great flavor to the dish.
So, thanks to eatwell101.com for the inspiration and the ingredients I had on hand, here’s my take on it ~
Ingredients
4 to 6 chicken breast cutlet pieces – trimmed, and pounded thin
Flour, salt, pepper to dust the chicken
Butter and olive oil
Fresh spinach
Chopped onions and garlic
Olive oil
4 oz of cream cheese – whipped
Basil pesto
Mozzarella
Grated Italian Blend Cheese
Balsamic Glaze
Mushrooms (optional)
Small artichokes (optional) – I used fresh which I had halved
- First sauté the spinach, onion and garlic in a little bit of olive oil. Set to the side.
- Next blend the cream cheese with a heaping spoonful of basil pesto. This is to our taste. I had some fresh pesto made, but you can always use store bought if you have it on hand. Set to the side
- Now dredge the chicken cutlet pieces in the flour mixture. Sauté in over medium heat with a little bit of butter and olive oil. One to two minutes per side – just enough to get a nice browning to each side. The cutlets will finish cooking in the oven.
- Now it’s time to assemble – Take a shallow casserole baking dish. Spray with a nonstick cooking spray.
- Place the cutlets on the bottom of the pan. Do not have them touching each other.
- Place a heaping spoon of the pesto cream cheese mixture on top of each piece of chicken. Spread with a knife so it is evenly spread across the chicken.
- Next place a spoonful or use tongs to add enough spinach to cover the cream cheese.
- Top spinach with mozzarella and grated cheese.
- Drizzle with balsamic glaze.
- Toss mushrooms and halved small fresh artichokes through out the pan. Drizzle with some olive oil.
- Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, until cheese is melted.
A few key points –
- I have made this recipe a few times now, and I have found it comes together quickly. It’s is a dish that you can prep ahead and bake while your guests are gathering together. Just love it when you can do that with a recipe.
- You can prep everything ahead of time. Get everything done through the last step of baking and then put it in the fridge until you’re ready to bake and serve.
- As you can see, we don’t have quantities. That’s because truly it’s up to you. It will depend on how many you’re serving, how much you like spinach…you get the idea.
- I added pesto, but you can swap that out for other flavors. Cream cheese is mild enough to take on quite a range of flavors. Experiment and see what you like best!
