Almond-Apricot Chicken

I have a small confession to make....I am not a fan of Martha Stewart. I am sure I am not the only one and its not that I have anything against her personally, its just I don't think she's that good. I feel like her popularity has made her sell out and that as a cook, she is not in the same league as the likes of Donna Hay, Nigella Lawson, Giada DeLaurentis etc.

Having said all that though, I picked up her new book, Good Food Fast, and its pretty good. Fortunately for Martha, the book store I purchased it from had placed a sticker over her name, otherwise I never would have given it a second look. Instead, under the guise of anonymity, I picked this book off the shelf to flick through and to my pleasant surprise, it was set out in seasons. I have been on a quest since reading Vegetable, Animal, Miracle by Barabara Kingsolver (kindly recommended to me by Katie over at Other People's Food), to eat more locally and seasonally, so this appealed to me very much. I purchased the book and upon closer inspection, not all of the recipes contain seasonal ingredients, more that the recipes suit the season....however, it still has a lot of merit and each recipe is accompanied by a lovely photograph....always a must for me :)

Anyway, so the recipe I made tonight comes from this book and was absolutely fabulous. I also made some beef tacos with radish and avocado salsa last night from this book (but did not have a chance to blog about), which were equally great.

I loved stuffed chicken and I love goat's cheese and this recipe had both. Combined with the apricots, this chicken was very moist and extremely tasty. The recipe suggest serving with a mint pesto, but instead I sauteed some different types of squash that I picked up at the farmer's market this weekend with some olive oil, garlic and some special pesto genovese.....a lovely gift from a friend who wed in Italy and brought this back for me. I also served some garlic bread from Wholefoods Market.

I would absolutely make this meal again, it was really wonderful....maybe I was too harsh on old Martha. I will certainly be making some more recipes from this book in the future.

Almond-Apricot Chicken
(Serves 4)

4 boneless chicken breast
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 oz goats cheese
6-8 dried apricots, cut into 1/4" pieces
course salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup plain bread crumbs
1 large egg, beaten
1 tbs olive oil

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375F. Cut a slit in one side of each chicken breast to create a pocket about 4 inches long.

2. In a small bowl, combine a 1/4 cup the almonds with the goats cheese and apricots. Stuff each breast with 1/4 of the mixture. Season with salt and pepper.

3. On a plate, combine bread crumbs and remaining almonds. Dip each breast into the beaten egg and then dredge in the crumb mixture.

4. Heat the oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat and cook chicken until golden, about 3-4 minutes on each side. Transfer to oven and bake until cooked through, about 15 minutes.