Low Fat Mozzarella, Pesto & Basil Chicken

Who doesn’t love eating melted mozzarella cheese, all gooey and stringy?! There is something so indulgent about melted cheese, for me it’s a real comfort food. It would seem like something extremely off limits for those of us trying to maintain a low fat healthy diet, right? Wrong!!! I’ve recently discovered low fat buffalo mozzarella cheese that has 50% less fat than regular mozzarella, and by controlling the quantity used, you can still get that comforting melted cheese fix, without straying from the diet.

 I’ve decided that you can have your cheese, and eat it too... .by compromising on another element of a meal, such as potatoes, or pasta or rice, and also by controlling to amount of cheese you put in your meal. Over the weekend, whilst leafing through a food magazine I spotted a recipe for deep fried mozzarella sticks. I felt I’d put on 10lbs by just looking at the picture alone. But it got me thinking, how can I make something low fat and healthy using my half fat mozzarella ball I’d bought in Aldi supermarket last week.... 


So I’ve come up with Low Fat Mozzarella, Pesto & Basil Stuffed Chicken, served with a low fat accompaniment of ratatouille. (recipe in a previous post) http://serenasmediumrare.blogspot.com/2011/06/speedy-low-fat-ratatouille.html

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 skinless chicken breasts
• 40g of low fat mozzarella cheese, sliced into thin strips
• 1 tsp of basil pesto
• 4 sun dried tomatoes
• 6-8 basil leaves
• Salt & pepper
• Cocktail sticks/skewers to secure

Method

1.       Firstly pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.

2.       To begin, you need your chicken breast to be really thin, about ½ inch thick. To achieve this, place a layer of cling film on a flat surface, place the chicken on the cling and then cover with another layer of cling film. Get a rolling pin or saucepan with a handle, and start bashing the chicken, until all the fibres have broken down to give you a wonderfully flat chicken breast.

3.       Spread a layer of pesto thinly over each breast.

4.       A 1/3 of the way in from the edge of the chicken place the basil leaves and the mozzarella strips, and sun dried tomatoes

5.       Season well with salt pepper and sprinkle the oregano over the cheese.

6.       Then roll the chicken up, to resemble a sausage like shape.

7.       Secure the chicken with a few cocktail sticks.

8.      lPlace on an oven dish lined with baking paper

9.       Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

10. Serve with low fat speedy ratatouille.