Pancetta Wrapped Stuffed Chicken with Jalapenos
An excellent use of jalapeno peppers and pancetta. This recipe finds tender chicken breasts stuffed with jalapeno peppers, spinach, garlic and Parmesan cheese, generously wrapped in pancetta then seared and served with a delicious pan sauce. More jalapenos, please!
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts
- 4 ounces spinach leaves
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
- 1 Yellow Naga chili pepper, chopped (remove the innards if you want to tame this one! It’s HOT!)
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 6-8 slices of pancetta, sliced very thin
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 tablespoon butter
- Salt and pepper to taste
Cooking Directions
- Heat a large pan to medium heat and add jalapeno pepper and yellow Naga with 2 tablespoon olive oil. Cook about 4 minutes.
- Add spinach leaves and garlic. Stir. Cook about 3-4 minutes, or until the spinach leaves reduce. Remove from heat and set mixture aside.
- Once cooled, add Parmesan and mix well.
- Pound the chicken breasts to about ¾” flatness or thinner with a meat tenderizer. Don’t overdo it, as you’ll need to stuff them.
- Slice a thin strip into the side of each chicken breast and stuff half of the spinach-garlic-pepper mixture into each.
- Season lightly with salt and pepper, then wrap each piece of stuffed chicken with pancetta slices.
- Heat a large pan to medium-high heat and add remaining olive oil. Heat until the oil is nice and hot.
- Add wrapped chicken breasts and cook about 5 minutes, then flip and cook another 5 minutes or so, or until chicken is cooked thoroughly through.
- Remove chicken from pan and add white wine to the pan. Scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan and mix. Allow to reduce to about a tablespoon.
- Remove from heat and add butter. Swirl the butter to thicken up the pan sauce.
- Pour over the chicken breasts and serve!