Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Serves 4

If you rely on boneless, skinless chicken breasts for fast dinners, but need an idea to turn them into something special, this easy recipe from the 2010 cookbook In a Pinch: Effortless Cooking for Today's Gourmet (Whitecap, $29.95) peps up the mild-flavoured meat and gives it a luxury look, too. Author Caren McSherry, who runs a Vancouver cooking school, has produced a good-looking collection of recipes, many of them with lengthy lists of ingredients, but others that could prove useful to the cook in a hurry. Prepare this dish up to a day ahead and refrigerate until ready to bake.

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts

250 g Asiago or Swiss cheese, cut in long strips 1/4 inch wide

1/4 cup tomato paste*

12 large fresh basil leaves

175 g thinly sliced pancetta**

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

*A tube of sun-dried tomato paste is handy to keep in the refrigerator. **Substitute lean, strongly flavoured ham, if desired.

Pound chicken until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Lay half the cheese strips along one end of one breast. Squeeze half the tomato paste in a thin line alongside the cheese. Place half the basil leaves on top. Roll chicken up, jelly-roll fashion. Wrap rolled chicken with pancetta, fastening it to the chicken with toothpicks. Repeat with second breast. Refrigerate until ready to cook.

Insert a meat thermometer into the centre of one of the chicken rolls. Heat oil in a large, heavy, ovenproof frying pan over medium-high heat and sear chicken rolls, turning until crispy on all sides, about five minutes. Transfer to oven preheated to 375 degrees F for about 20 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 180 degrees F. Slice crosswise in 1/2-inch slices and serve.