Recipe: chicken Florentine

I made this recipe the other night and it wasn't too bad. After eating it, I think I would change up the recipe and make it into a casserole of sorts but I'll give you the actual recipe and then I'll tell you how I changed it up.

You will need:

2 large chicken breasts, each cut in half
1/4-1/3 c. flour
salt and pepper to taste

2 tbs. olive or canola oil
1/2 c. chicken broth
1/4 c. white wine
1/4 c. lemon juice (which I actually didn't add)
5 oz. frozen chopped spinach thawed, cooked according to package and drained
4 reduced fat mozzarella cheese slices (you can omit this or substitute for another)

Flatten chicken breast pieces with a mallet or rolling pin. Take your flour, salt and pepper and combine in a 1 gallon Ziploc bag. Add chicken pieces and coat with flour, shaking off excess. Heat oil to medium high in a skillet. Add chicken and cook on both sides until browned and near done. Remove from heat and place flat in a baking dish. Add broth, wine and lemon juice to chicken pan and mix to combine. Cook until sauce thickens and remove from heat. Top each chicken piece with 1/4 of the spinach, and pour sauce over the chicken. Top each piece of chicken with 1 slice of cheese and bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until cheese is slightly browned.


Now, I served this with a basic pasta and tomatoes recipe that I make a lot. All I do it take about 5 oz. of whole wheat pasta (any short pasta will work) and cook as directed. While that's cooking I take 1 can of stewed tomatoes and dice them up. I toss them into a pan, with the juice and cook over medium until the sauce thickens and the tomatoes break down a bit. I usually add about 1 tbs. of pesto for a bit of extra flavor. When the pasta is done I add it to the pan with the tomatoes and season with oregano, a little Italian seasoning, 1 tbs. brown sugar and a few red pepper flakes for just a bit of a kick.

Anyway, when I ate the dish originally I thought the spinach was a bit over powering...chicken isn't a big flavor. However, when I had my leftovers for lunch yesterday everything was all mixed together and it was so much better. If I make it again I would probably just combine the chicken, spinach, pasta, tomatoes and seasoning, throw some mozzarella on top and bake it off. Either way, it's a tasty meal.