A while back, me and my family had a few chicken breasts left in the freezer and wanted to try something different. Going through a few of my many cookbooks, I found this recipe. I believe I have found my favorite chicken recipe

Parma-Wrapped Chicken

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts, skin removed
  
• 6 oz soft cheese, flavored with herbs and garlic (Used goat cheese with a big pinch of Oregano and a smaller pinch of Thyme)
  
• 8-12 slices Parma Ham (prosciutto) (it's basically really thin and lean bacon. Full of wonderful flavor, and you pay well for it too. The 6oz package we got was about $6, so a dollar an ounce)
  
• 2/3 cup red wine (don't worry about getting a really fancy wine for this, dad bought a cheap $6 bottle of Cabernet, and it worked beautifully for cooking. Drinking it was another story.....let's just say it was priced accordingly..)
  
• 2/3 cup chicken stock (Make sure to get low-sodium stock, we made this once with regular stock and it was Way too salty)
  
• 1 tbsp brown sugar

Directions

1. Using a sharp knife (preferably a fillet knife) and make a horizontal slit along the length of the breast to create a pocket.
2. Beat the cheese with a wooden spoon to soften it and mix the herbs and garlic into it. Spoon the cheese into the pockets of the chicken.
3. Wrap two (or however much is needed to wrap the breasts, sometimes it takes 3) slices of the Parma ham around each breast and secure with a length of string (Make sure to not use anything other than non-treated cotton.)
4. Pour the wine and chicken stock into a large frying pan and bring to a boil. When the mixture just starts to boil, add the brown sugar and stir to dissolve it.
5. Add the chicken breasts to the mixture and simmer for 7 minutes, flip them, and then simmer for 8 more or until juices run clear. (make sure to flip them, it allows the chicken to cook evenly)
6. Remove chicken from pan and set aside somewhere to keep them warm.
7. Reduce the wine/stock mixture to a sauce consistency (this shouldn't take too long, maybe five minutes if that). Remove the string from the chicken and cut the breasts into slices. Pour sauce over the chicken and serve.

Served with a Spring Mix salad and also a box pasta from Aldi, I believe it was herb and butter? Some seriously good box pasta.

This is now my favorite chicken recipe. The wine/stock mixture has an incredible flavor. And to even make it better, some of the cheese from inside the chicken may/probably will leak into it, giving it yet another boost in flavor. This is definitely going to become much more frequently made at home. Also, this was my first real attempt to making a dish look more..."fancy". Think it worked?