Italian Chicken O’Brien – like Carrabba’s

This is another option if you are trying to eat more chicken and fish instead of beef.  This recipe is very similar to Carrabba’s  Chicken O’Brien.  Very easy and can be grilled or baked/roasted.  The flavors are fresh and creamy.  Serve it with the Kale-orado salad and if you are not avoiding carbs, a parmesan risotto.  To round out the meal, a nice chardonnay would definitely add to the experience.  I recommend the 2011 La Crema Sonoma Coast Chardonnay.

Italian Chicken O’Brien

3 cloves of garlic

6 fresh basil leaves, chiffonade

8 halves smoked sun-dried tomatoes

2 chicken breasts, trimmed and butterflied (cut into the thick part of the chicken breast – not all the way – to form a pocket)

goat cheese of your choice/flavor – we like the garlic and herb, and the applewood smoked

lemon olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Finely mince and mash the cloves of garlic into a paste.

Julienne and chop the tomatoes.  Chiffonade the basil.

  Stack the leaves on top of each other.

    Roll them up into a roll.

     Cut them into tiny ribbons.  This is Chiffonade.

Mix the garlic, tomatoes, and basil together until well blended.

Divide the mixture evenly between the two chicken breasts and tie them closed with linen kitchen twine.  Drizzle with lemon olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Refrigerate for 1 hour.  Grill on a hot grill until done.  Remove from the grill and place the goat cheese on top to melt.  Serve.