Chook Fest: Baked Chicken with Sun Dried Tomatoes, Artichokes and Cream Cheese

Today, on this edition of Chook Fest, I made baked chicken breasts with sun dried tomato and artichokes. I read this meal on a romance novel recently and I was curious with what it tastes like, so the Google fest began. So far, I've read so many recipes and flavour combinations mixed with sun dried tomatoes and artichokes.

You have to have some form of cheese - feta, cheddar, fontina - then any fresh or dried herbs - basil (most popular), parsley, thyme and even rosemary. 

The next thing is how to prepare the chicken and the actual recipe. Again, there are several variations - rolled then baked or pan fried, placed in a casserole pot and baked slowly and the easiest way is to make a sauce out of it and mix with pasta like penne, spirals or linguine. 

My version today is the most popular version - rolled then baked. I thought this is really simple to make and my tomato-artichoke mixture is extremely easy too. 

What I liked about the recipe: The sun dried tomatoes and artichoke combination is quite good. The sun dried tomatoes tasted smoky and raisin-y and the marinated artichokes had a sharper and smoother texture. The cream cheese ties this all together. It wasn't salty or overpowering at all. The chicken wrapped around this mixture completes the dish nicely. I can't imagine this with red meat. Pork will probably work fine.

What I did differently: I chose cream cheese just because I have this in my fridge.

What I will change next time: The ingredients worked quite well here. I will add slices of prosciutto, use fresh herbs, a different less salty cheese like mozzarella. Another possibility is to cook the mixture with some garlic and shallots to add more flavour but all optional as this original recipe is fine as it is.

Here's the list of ingredients with no particular measurements:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

75g cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, sliced

1/3 cup marinated artichokes - I didn't slice this

1 tbsp dried basil

1/2 tbsp dried parsely

1/4 tsp dried thyme

Preheat the oven at 180C. The most I had to do was to flatten the chicken. I found this the most difficult part of the preparation because I don't own a mallet, I used a jar filled with brown rice instead. It took me a while to do and the chicken breasts were still fairly thick. My total cooking time in the oven was shorter too - 20 minutes. Some baked theirs for 30-35 minutes, it probably depends on how hot your oven gets.