Tueday: Stuffed chicken breasts

The idea for this came from a Bittman column, but the recipe was an improv.

Mince some onion and garlic and start them cooking in olive oil. Add some chopped chard leaves and a pinch of salt and let cook until they are tender but not mushy, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and mix in some chopped lemon verbena and rosemary. Lay a whole, skin on, chicken breast skin-side down on three pieces of string. Season with salt and pepper, then cover with a layer of the greens mixture. Fold up into a roll and tie shut with the string. Brown this well on all sides and then let it cook long enough until the inside of the chicken breast is done.

This was a bit of work but it was quite an attractive preparation and tasted fantastic.

To go along with this, I coarsely diced the chard stems and cooked them in olive oil with pine nuts. Just before serving I added some diced dried apricot.

As a starch we had spaghetti tossed with salt and olive oil.

Oh, and a green salad.