Gin Cooks!

I saw this on Rachael Ray last week, and it sounded good, but I wasn’t paying the greatest attention (I cannot listen to that woman for extended periods of time - more often than not, I keep her on mute), so I kind of guessed at the recipe – it still came out pretty tasty.

6 kaiser rolls (or any large, crusty roll)
Ricotta cheese
Italian blend shredded cheeses (I used a parm, asiago, and Romano blend)
2 chicken breasts*
Spinach (I used frozen)*
Tomato
Basil leaves

First, I coated the chicken in olive oil, sprinkled it with some Italian seasoning, and browned it in the pan.
While it was cooking, I cut the tops of the Kaiser rolls and hollowed them out.
After the chicken cooled, I diced it, and mixed the ricotta, blended cheeses, chicken, and (thawed) spinach, and filled the rolls.

Per RR’s instructions, I put the roll tops back on, and put a thin tomato slice, some mozzarella (or more blend, or whatever), and some shredded basil on top, and baked the stuffed rolls for about 30-40 min. at 350.

The basic recipe is pretty easy – ricotta, blended cheeses, and whatever else you have lying around (RR used pepperoni and salami, I think), stuff it in a roll, bake it, done. The chicken and spinach, while delicious, took longer – it was an hour of prep, though I admit to having quite a large glass of wine before I got started, so I was perhaps a little, um, distracted.

Next time I make it, I think I will leave the tops off and put the tomato, cheese, and basil on top of the exposed stuffing mixture. J said he would have liked some sauce in it too, as the point was that this was liked an easy, mini-calzone. The original recipe may have had sauce…I don’t know, whatever. It tasted good, and one stuffed roll was enough for me.