Almond Apricot Chicken Delight

This tasty treat is a great main dish to serve when you've got a little bit of time and really want to impress your guests!  It's one of my husband Rob's favourites too (and the only way he would eat a dried apricot!).  I also have to mention that when I served this to family and guests from Belgium, Rob's grandmother commented "I didn't know you could cook" (I took this as a HUGE compliment, so don't tell me otherwise!)

The recipe comes from my fave cookbook "Great Food Fast" and has only 7 ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup of sliced almonds
2 ounces of goats cheese
4 dried apricots (cut into 1/4 inch pieces)
1/3 cup of bread crumbs
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon olive oil
course salt and ground pepper too

Preheat your oven to 350 F and start by cutting a slit in each chicken breast, in order to create a pocket about four inches long (I also make mine nice and deep so I can stuff them full!)

In a small bowl, mix only a 1/4 of the almonds with the goats cheese and the apricot pieces.  Then stuff the mixture evenly in the pockets among all the chicken breasts.

On a flat plate, combine the breadcrumbs with the remaining 1/4 cup of almonds.  Dip each breast (carefully to not lose any stuffing) into the beaten egg and then coat it with the breadcrumb mixture.

 Place the finished pieces on a plate while you heat the tbsp of olive oil in a oven-proof skillet.  Cook each breasts 3-4 minutes in the hot skillet until golden on the outside.  When all are cooked, keep them in the skillet and transfer it into the oven to cook through.  This should take about 15 minutes (but I always watch it closely and check with my meat thermometer.

Here's how we set the table the day of the family feast - we went with a colourful, European look, using a gorgeous table linen that my mom brought me home from Italy.  The chicken was served with roasted potatoes, green beans and asparagus.  It was all delicious!