Imitation is the best form of a compliment

I just received my cookbook from my Facebook friend Letizia Mattiacci who lives  in Umbria in Italy.  She has a cooking school that looks like I would really enjoy attending should I ever have the opportunity to visit.   I was flipping through her book and saw a wonderful pork recipe that looked like braciole only better.

Her recipe uses guanciole, yep something I never heard of before but became acquainted with it this afternoon while watching Extra Virgin on the CookingChanel.com – it’s bacon, sort of.  If you can’t find guanciole use panchetta or heck, just bacon – I did.   The recipe inspired me to do something like this with chicken.

So here goes:

• 2 skinned chicken breasts, rinsed, patted dry then pounded out
• 1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
• 2 T. melted butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• slice of red onion, minced
• 1 T. pesto
• 3 T.  Parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 T. fresh flat leaf parsley, minced
• 8 slices fontinella cheese
• 4 slices precooked bacon

Combine the bread crumbs, butter, garlic, red onion, pesto, and parsley.  It’ll be crumbly.

Assemble the chicken with bread crumb mixture, fontinella, then the bacon.  Roll up tightly and tie with butcher’s string.  In a pyrex plate, sprinkle black pepper, salt and a little Extra Light Virgin olive oil.  Roll each tied chicken breast in the pyrex dish.  Grill on indirect heat till internal temp reaches 160.

It was delicious!!!!!!!!  I don’t always have everything I need in the fridge but I have most things.  Improvising works  well most days.  It was so big I only ate half.  Enough for another day.  Thanks Letizia.