Caramelized Apple Stuffed Chicken with Fontina and Cherries

One of Bob's favorite things is to pair sweet and savory. He especially loves fruit with meat, so when I saw this recipe on FoodNetwork.com, I knew he would love it. Guess what - I was right! :) I've had this recipe saved on my computer for a long time (we're talking 2007 here people!), but finally got around to making it a few months ago, and I'm just getting around to posting it now! We both thought this dish was great. The flavors all work really well together. Plus, we learned a new technique for stuffing chicken which Bob used to make a really great dinner a few weeks later. I just realized that I post a lot of "stuffed" recipes on this blog . . . hmmm

Caramelized Apple Stuffed Chicken with Fontina and Cherries

Ingredients:

For the marinade:

1/2 Tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 1/2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon honey

3 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 large chicken breasts

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 Tablespoon unsalted butter

1 medium Fuji apple

1 1/2 ounces fontina cheese, shredded

1 1/2 ounces dried cherries, roughly chopped

Directions:

1. Make the marinade: Place the red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, the mustards, and honey in a food processor. Turn on and drizzle in the olive oil until fully incorporated (emulsified).

2. Marinate the chicken breasts overnight in this mixture (I did 30 minutes after reading an article in Cook's Illustrated that 30 minutes is all that's needed for marinating chicken).

3. Make the stuffing: Peel, core, and very roughly chop the apple. Melt the butter in a saute pan over medium/high heat and add the apples. Cook for roughly 5 to 10 minutes or until deeply browned. Remove from heat and transfer to a mixing bowl. Once cooled, add the fontina and cherries and mix. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Preheat grill or grill pan on high. Remove chicken breasts from the marinade and transfer to a plate. Season with salt and pepper. Mark the chicken breasts by grilling them only long enough to make grill marks, then rotate them about 45 degrees to make crosshatch marks. Do this on 1 side only. The chicken breasts will still be completely raw inside.

5. Preheat the oven to 400F. Cut a slit in the side of each breast (in the thicker part) about 1-inch wide, creating a pocket almost as large as the breast itself. Stuff the breasts with the apple stuffing mix - cramming in as much as possible without ripping the breast. At this point the breasts are ready to be baked or can be held in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours

6. Place chicken on a baking sheet and bake for about 12-15 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer registers 155F in the thickest part of the breast. (Mine took quite a bit longer to cook - perhaps 30-40 minutes. I don't have an instant-read thermometer so I had to cut and check for pink.)

Source: Adapted from FoodNetwork.com