Souffle Stuffed Chicken

Before I did my meal planning for our first week of Phase One on the South Beach Diet, I went through the SBD Cookbook and made a list of what recipes sounded good. I was glad there were quite a few. I like to try new recipes (obviously), so I didn't want to do all the same things I'd made during Phase One before. This one sounded interesting. I had no idea what the Stouffer's Spinach Souffle was, but I found it easily enough at the grocery store. I figured it would be some kind of nasty, over-processed junk, but the ingredient list was actually not bad..."modified food starch" was the only thing I questioned.

Souffle Stuffed Chicken
Source: The South Beach Diet Cookbook by Arthur Agatson

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/4 inch thickness
1 (12 ounce) package stouffer's frozen spinach souffle, not thawed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper
chopped fresh parsley (to garnish)
lemon slice (to garnish)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Using a serrated knife, cut the frozen spinach souffle crosswise into 4 equal pieces. Top half of each whole breast with one of the pieces of souffle. Fold half of the chicken over the filling and fasten edges with wooden picks.

Heat the oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 3 minutes or until golden. Add chicken breasts and cook for 7 minutes per side or until well browned.

Remove chicken to an oven-proof dish. Bake for 30 minutes or until a thermometer registers 170 degrees F when inserted into the thickest portion.

While the chicken is baking, add broth, lemon juice, mustard, salt and pepper to the large skillet. Heat to boiling then reduce to low. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until the sauce is reduced to 1/2.

To serve, remove and discard wooden picks. Arrange chicken on a warm serving platter and spoon sauce over the chicken. Garnish with freshly chopped parsley and lemon slices.

*****

When I talked to my friend Jen today and told her about the recipe I said that in my head it was going to taste like chicken stuffed with a really yummy spinach artichoke dip type thing. She said she didn't think that's what it would be like and not to get my hopes up. I had the idea of grating some parmesan cheese over the spinach before wrapping up the chicken, but then I forgot to add it. Oops.

Honestly I was surprised how good this was. I figured it would be gross and no one would like it, but we all really enjoyed it. The spinach souffle was a lot more flavorful than I anticipated it being. The husband said he wished he had more stuff to dip into the spinach mixture. And he even had more broccoli so he could dip it. He's never had seconds of broccoli in his life. In fact, until recently, he wouldn't even touch the stuff.

This is another dish I'll be adding to my Phase One repertoire. I'd probably even make it if I wasn't on Phase One of SBD, so that says a lot.

Chicken browning away


Second side of the chicken browning


Ready for the oven


This is what it looks like in the book. I had my misgivings about mine compared to it.


Finished dish. Doesn't look anything like the book really, but it was still tasty. My chicken probably could have been thinner, which would have covered up the souffle more, but it worked.