Hasselback Baked Chicken Breasts

My Number One Fan ran across this interesting recipe on the Pillsbury website, which is even more interesting because it contains no Pillsbury products in the ingredients whatsoever, just a strong suggestion that you serve it along side Pillsbury Crescent Rolls.  The term "Hasselback" is generally used in tandem with potatoes, a dish that was created in Stockholm, Sweden in the 1940s at the Hasselbacken Restaurant.  They are relatively easy to make, requiring a bit of fancy blade work. Hasselback Potatoes are essentially peeled, roasted potatoes that have been cut into very thin slices, without completing the cuts that would separate the potato into individual slices. All the slices stay connected along the bottom of the potato. Melted butter is drizzled into the potato; it's then coated with bread crumbs and roasted so that the exterior is crispy but the center is soft and creamy. 

The idea from the chef that created this method of roasting potatoes was that the finished product is meant to resemble an accordion.  I'm sure there is a backstory to that, but I've not found it. I had never actually heard of Hasselback Potatoes until eating at a venerable Boulder, Colorado restaurant, The Cork, a few years back.

One of the test-kitchen chefs at Pillsbury got the idea of making the same preparation with a boneless, skinless chicken breast.  It requires even more fancy blade work because cutting a chicken breast in this manner is a hell of a lot more difficult than a potato.  So, make sure you have a well sharpened boning knife to do the work for you.  A dull blade will be more likely to lead to injury.

You will need a jar of tomato pesto sauce for this recipe.  My Number One Fan found a sun-dried tomato pesto sauce under the brand name Filippo Berio that worked very well, but use whatever you can find.

Ingredients
3 large or 4 medium (about 2 lbs, total) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 6.7-oz jar (or about 1 cup) sun-dried tomato pesto sauce (like, Filippo Berio)
1 6-oz jar or can of sliced mushrooms, drained (like Green Giant)
4 large slices of non-smoked Provolone cheese (like, Boar's Head), cut into strips
20 coin-size slices of salami (like, Boar's Head uncured sliced hard salami), cut into halves
non-stick cooking spray

The Recipe
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Coat the bottom of an 11" x 7" Pyrex baking dish with the non-stick spray, and then put down a couple of tablespoons of the sun-dried tomato pesto and smear it all around.  Lay out all the mushrooms in a single layer on the bottom of the baking dish.

Holding the chicken breast with a paper towel for stability, use a sharp boning knife to make slices on the top of the chicken breast perpendicular to the length of the breast, slicing almost, but not all the way through to the bottom.  Repeat these slices about 3/4" apart.  Depending on the size of the chicken breast, you'll get seven to eight slices, or pockets.

Spread 1 to 1-1/2 tablespoons of the sun-dried tomato pesto over the tops of each breast, being sure to also coat the inside of the pockets.

Put equal amounts of the Provolone cheese and salami into all of the chicken breast pockets. Coat the tops of the chicken breast with the remaining pesto.

Bake 30-35 minutes until the chicken is done and the cheese is bubbly.  I suggest you check the chicken at about 25 minutes for smaller breasts.  We had three large breasts, which were not fully cooked after 30 minutes, but an additional ten minutes of cooking time was a tad too long.  

The best way to determine when the breasts are cooked is with a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breasts in the middle of your baking dish to 160 degrees. USDA says 165 degrees, but the temperature will continue to rise after the dish comes out of the oven.  Some chefs won't say it publicly for fear of litigation, but you're safe at 150-155 degrees, and the chicken will be all the more juicy and tender, but don't quote me on that, either.