{"id":308,"date":"2013-06-08T12:44:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-08T18:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deanasimmons.wordpress.com\/2013\/06\/08\/spinach-and-dill-pesto-chicken-breasts"},"modified":"2013-06-08T12:44:00","modified_gmt":"2013-06-08T18:44:00","slug":"spinach-and-dill-pesto-chicken-breasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southernladycooking.com\/?p=308","title":{"rendered":"Spinach and Dill Pesto Chicken Breasts"},"content":{"rendered":"
PESTO<\/span>
1\/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted*<\/span>
2 large garlic cloves<\/span>
2 cups lightly packed baby spinach<\/span>
1\/2 cup lightly packed chopped fresh dill<\/span>
1\/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil<\/span>
1\/4 cup lower-sodium chicken broth<\/span>
1\/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese<\/span>
1\/4 teaspoon salt<\/span>
1\/8 teaspoon pepper<\/span>

CHICKEN<\/span>
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves<\/span>
1\/4 teaspoon salt<\/span>
1\/8 teaspoon pepper<\/span>
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil<\/span>
1\/3 cup lower-sodium chicken broth<\/span>
1\/4 cup heavy whipping cream<\/span>

1. Pulse walnuts in food processor until finely chopped; remove. Pulse garlic in food processor until finely chopped. Add spinach and dill; pulse until finely chopped. With food processor running, slowly add 1\/4 cup oil and 1\/4 cup chicken broth until blended. Place in small bowl; stir in cheese, walnuts, 1\/4 teaspoon salt and 1\/8 teaspoon pepper. Reserve generous 2\/3 cup pesto for sauce.<\/span>

2. With small sharp knife, cut pocket in each chicken breast, cutting almost to other side but not all the way through. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the remaining pesto into each pocket, secure with toothpicks. Sprinkle chicken with 1\/4 teaspoon salt and 1\/8 teaspoon pepper.<\/span>(Chicken can be prepared up to 8 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)<\/em>

3. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Cook chicken 5 to 6 minutes or until browned, turning once. Reduce heat to medium; continue cooking another 5 to 7 minutes or until no longer pink in center, turning occasionally. Remove chicken; cover loosely with foil.<\/span>

4. Add reserved 2\/3 cup pesto and 1\/3 cup broth to skillet; bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to scrape up any browned bits on bottom of skillet. Add cream; bring to a boil until slightly thickened. Remove toothpicks from chicken; place on serving plate. Stir any accumulated juices from chicken into sauce; lightly drizzle over chicken and around plate. Pass remaining sauce.<\/span>

4 servings<\/span>

PER SERVING: 435 calories, 32.5 g total fat (8.5 g saturated fat), 32.5 g protein, 3 g carbohydrate, 100 mg cholesterol, 610 mg sodium, 1 g fiber<\/span>

TIP *To toast walnuts, place on baking sheet; bake at 375\u00b0 F. for 4 to 6 minutes or until pale brown and fragrant.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PESTO1\/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted*2 large garlic cloves2 cups lightly packed baby spinach1\/2 cup lightly packed chopped fresh dill1\/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil1\/4 cup lower-sodium…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7yoUc-4Y","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southernladycooking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southernladycooking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southernladycooking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southernladycooking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southernladycooking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southernladycooking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southernladycooking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southernladycooking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southernladycooking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}