fancy smancy chicken breast

so, my mother has the neiman marcus cookbook and i went rummaging through it the other day. the majority of its contents is filled with fancy things that nick would never eat. (ie: vegetables. haha) but i tried my hand at one of their chicken recipes. chicken and cheese - that has my husband written all over it. it went rather easy. will i follow all the steps and cook it again? well, it was rather advanced for my liking - but my nervous energy (and i was totally sweating doing it too, running around that damn kitchen like a chicken with my head cut off) gave me a good buzz from downing wine. we'll see. anyway - here is the recipe:

fancy smancy chicken breast, (stuffed with prosciutto, provolone and topped with mushrooms)

INGREDIENTS :

• 6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• salt and ground pepper
• 6 thin slices of prosciutto
• 6 slices of provolone cheese (the recipe totally asked for fontina - but i smelled it and it smelled gross, and it also cost $9 - screw that)
• 1 cup spinach leaves, slightly packed (didnt use this - nick said he would rather die than eat spinach)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups coarsley grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained (nixed this, he also said if he had to eat a caper, he'd vomit)
• juice 1/2 lemon
• 2 tablespoons sliced mushrooms– optional

preheat oven to 350°

place chicken on cutting board between two pieces of plastic wrap.  pound until approximately 1/2 inch thick. which was fun. stress reliever and its all squishy-like. remove plastic wrap and season the chicken with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

unravel the prosciutto and wrap one slice around a stick of provolone. fold chicken over to make a little pocket. hot pocket style if you have the eating habits of my husband. chill in fridge for about an hour.

   or not. i totally didnt, because a good cook plans ahead. it was 8:00pm on a week night by the time i got to this point. whitney took a gulp of wine and opted out.

 break the eggs in a shallow bowl, whisk, and add the cups of parmesan, mix together. add flour to a separate bowl.

dip those babies in the flour first, and then in the egg mixture. and believe me. it's sick. touching that gross chicken, trying to keep the cheese combo in the tiny hot pocket and your hands are engulfed in sickness. notice the disgust on my face on my crappy cell phone photo:

brown on first side 3-4 minutes and carefully turn with spatula and brown on other side for 3-4 minutes. transfer breasts to baking dish and bake for 15-20 minutes. while the chicken is baking, melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. when it begins to brown, add the capers and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. keep warm. (OR saute some mushrooms in some flippin' butter instead!) then, pour the mixture on top of the finished chicken when done. voila!

"it sort of tastes like a ham sandwich, but with CHICKEN instead of bread," says husband.

eh, works for me.