Ricotta Stuffed Chicken Breasts

This recipe is so easy and quick. It was a meal made after work, after the gym, and after cleaning the house. I think it took about 30 minutes for the whole preparation and it tastes great! Part of the reason why the meal was so quick to prepare is that I used store made pesto and thin sliced chicken breasts. Sometimes, the quick solutions work best. After some poor experiences with stuffing chicken breasts, I have decided to use thin slice chicken for all stuffed chicken recipes. It is so much easier than pounding the chicken.

6 think sliced chicken breasts
3.5 ounces ricotta cheese
5 tablespoons pesto
2 teaspoons olive oil
black pepper
2 beef tomatoes
1 small red onion
1 minced clove of garlic
small handful of basil leaves
1 loaf Italian bread

1. Pre-heat skillet and add oil.
2. Mix ricotta cheese and pesto in a small bowl. Spoon a spoonful of the mixture onto chicken breast and roll chicken breast closed.
   
3. Place chicken in skillet and cook about 7-8 minutes each side until cooked through.
   
4. While chicken is cooking, rinse and finely chop tomatoes, peel and finely chop onion and garlic. Mix all together and season with pepper. Rinse and tear basil leaves and add to tomato mixture.
5. Cut bread and spread remaining pesto mixture. Toast the bread and top with tomato mixture.
   

I changed the original recipe a bit. The original recipe calls for only 1 tablespoon of pesto to be mixed with ricotta. I really like pesto and added all of it to the ricotta. I think it made for more flavorful chicken. Also, the base of the mixture for the bread was mainly pesto, topped with the tomatoes. I used the rest of the cheese mixture and felt it worked quite well.