Lasagna stuffed chicken rolls

Lasagna Stuffed Chicken Rolls

My mom is an amazing woman.  She went to graduate school to become a molecular biologist with two small children, and a husband who worked long hours.  She ended up earning her PhD when I was in elementary school, which means she was an incredibly busy woman!  This also means she didn't cook much, unless it was a special occasion.  

One of my favorite things she made, was these amazing stuffed shells.  It was basically lasagna concept, except the ricotta mixture is scooped into par boiled noodles, and everything is topped with marinara and loads of cheese!  I loved it, and it usually only happened when my parents had company over, so it was always extra special! 

 I came up with this recipe, because my husband and I have been eating a bit lighter these days, and I wanted to find a way to replace all the starchy pasta.  I also have an amazing veggie low carb lasagna with zucchini as the noodles, but I thought chicken would also be delicious!

Start with the cheese mixture.  I used:

one 9 oz. box of frozen spinach, thawed, and thoroughly rung out

one 15 oz. tub of low fat ricotta, also drained

4 chopped green onions

1 finely diced, or grated

1 teaspoon dry oregano, rubbed between your hands

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

liberal salt and pepper

Thoroughly mix the filling, taste for salt, then add one egg and 2 Tablespoons grated pecorino romano cheese.

When cutting raw meat, make sure you use one special cutting board that is only for that kind of raw meat.  This makes absolutely sure that there is no cross contamination in your kitchen!  After trimming any excess fat and membranes, lay the chicken breast flat on the cutting board.  With your hand flat on the top, cut horizontally from the thick end of the breast, to the thinner end.  You want the chicken to be no more than 1/4 " thick.  This means you can get one or two cuts out of each breast.  Take your time!  Be careful to not cut yourself, and to keep the knife level.

Spread the cutlets flat on the cutting board, and fill each with about a Tablespoon and a half of filling in the center, and smooth out.  Then, it's simply rolling up, and setting in a greased 9x13 dish.  For 5 large chicken breasts, I got exactly enough rolls to fill one pan.

Smother the rolls liberally with marinara sauce.  Jarred sauce is perfect for this, but I had some leftover pizza marinara.  You can find my recipe in the homemade pizza recipe link on my page.  Then sprinkle with more pecorino romano cheese.  Don't go overboard with the cheese, remember that this is an intense flavor, and this is a lighter dish!

If you have extra filling...  and trust me, you want extra filling...  make a small dish of veggie dip for chef snacking!  No, really, you want extra filling!

Bake in the oven at 350*, for at least an hour, until a meat thermometer in the largest roll comes out at 165*.  This is a wonderful make ahead meal, either baked ahead of time and warmed, or kept raw until needed.  Tonight, we are apple picking.  This will be waiting in the fridge until we come home to warm it up!  Enjoy!