Pesto

I started my garden terribly late this year. In fact, I only planted it about two weeks ago. However, my basil is already growing well and I'm excited to have enough to make delicious pesto. This stuff is fabulous!

Pesto

1 cup fresh basil leaves, firmly packed

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

2 Tbsp pine nuts

1/3 cup (approx.) olive oil

Combine basil, garlic, cheese, and nuts in food processor. Pulse until fairly smooth. Drizzle in olive oil while pulsing food processor until desired consistency is reached.

For a cheaper version, I've heard of (but not tried) using Parmesan cheese and walnuts.

Pesto Pastry Chicken

This chicken recipe is my own creation, and I'm rather proud of it. It looks (and tastes) like it is a fancy dish, but is actually rather fast and easy to prepare. It can easily be adapted for any size of crowd. My rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Pesto Pastry Chicken

4 chicken breasts
1 Tbsp butter
4 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup pesto
1 sheet frozen puff pastry
1 egg
salt
pepper

Get the frozen puff pastry out of the freezer and let it start thawing. It needs to thaw for about 35 minutes before using it.

Melt butter in a large frying pan. Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken breasts. Place chicken in melted butter and cook for about 3 minutes per side. The chicken should be browned but does not need to be completely cooked.

Combine pesto and cream cheese in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the egg. Set both aside.

Roll out puff pastry sheet to a large rectangle that is big enough to cover all four chicken breasts. No need to be exact--just get it bigger than it is now.

Cut the puff pastry into four equal rectangles.

In the middle of each rectangle, spread 1/4 of the cream cheese mixture. Leave a 1.5" border on all sides.

Place a chicken breast in the middle of each puff pastry on top of the cream cheese. Brush 1.5" border with beaten egg.

Fold the puff pastry around the chicken. Try to keep the puff pastry at the same thickness all the way around the chicken. Place, seam side down, on a cookie sheet that is lined with foil.

Brush top and sides of each chicken "packet" with beaten egg.

Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes.