Stuffed Chicken

Today’s post was inspired by a lunch my family shared at Sermet’s in Charleston, South Carolina.  Sermet’s, located on King Street is a Mediterranean restaurant with French and Italian inspiration.  Today’s recipe was not influenced by a main dish, or dessert, or even an appetizer.  It was inspired by the dip that came before the main dish and before we even ordered!  It was a simple dip of four ingredients and I was quickly counting in my head the ways to use!

Sermet’s Dip

For the dip:

1 cup EVOO

1/2 jar (approximately 8 sun dried tomatoes)

3/4-1 head of garlic (depending on how much you like garlic)

1/2 bunch of basil

Salt and Pepper

Dip ingredients

Smash, peel, and chop garlic

Add 3/4 of EVOO to pan on medium-low heat and add garlic once EVOO starts bubbling

Sauté garlic approximately 10 minutes, but turn heat down if garlic starts to brown

While garlic is cooking, add the rest of the EVOO plus the sun dried tomatoes and basil to a food processor

Garlic Sautéing

Blend until sun dried tomatoes and basil are almost puréed

Sun dried tomatoes, basil, and EVOO blended together

Add this mixture to the garlic and EVOO sautéing on the stove, and season with salt and pepper

Dip cooking

After the dip is made, you can cook with it right away, or store for later.  It will keep for about 1 week.  I decided to store and made rolled chicken with it at a later time.

Rolled Chicken:

1 Chicken Breast

Spinach

Zucchini

Dip

EVOO

Paprika, salt, and pepper

Skewers

Preheat oven to 375

Soak skewers in water

Place chicken in a ziplock bag and pound chicken until 1/2 inch thick

Pounding the chicken

After chicken is pounded, season one side with salt, pepper, and paprika

Seasoned pounded chicken

Flip chicken and add a layer of spinach

Spinach Layer

Next, add a layer of the dip.  Since it had been refrigerated for a few days, the dip had thickened.  If using for dip, you may have to add more EVOO.

Sun dried tomato, basil, garlic, and EVOO dip layer

Julienne zucchini and add as your final layer

Roll chicken and secure with soaked skewers

Rolled chicken

Bake chicken for 25 minutes, or until cooked through

Cooked chicken

Remove skewers and serve with a side of your choice

Finished Rolled Chicken with a side of edamame

I can’t wait to try this dip in other recipes!

If you are in the Charleston area, please stop by Sermet’s at

276 King Street

Charleston, SC 29401

843-853-777

Have a great weekend and stay hungry…