Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken Breast Stuffed with Goat Cheese

In a small bowl, mix together the cheese, oregano, lemon zest and maple syrup – make sure it’s well combined.

To make a ‘pocket’ in the chicken, turn the breast on it’s side lengthwise, and starting at the fatter end, 1 cm in from the end, carefully make an incision down the middle.  The idea is to make the pocket in the fat end only – be very careful not to cut through the ‘pocket wall’.

Stuff the pocket with 1/4 of the chicken mixture, using enough so that the chicken can still be pulled together to close the pocket.  Season all sides with pepper.

Next, fold up the ‘tail’ of the breast so that you now have an even thickness of goat cheese stuffed chicken – it will look like a small log.  Tightly wrap each bundle in 2-3 slices (I used 3) of prosciutto, overlapping them so that there is no chicken visible, and then tightly wrap each individually in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least a half hour.  I see no reason why these couldn’t be prepared in the morning or even the day before if the chicken was good and fresh.

When you’re ready to barbecue, remove the plastic wrap and use good quality butcher’s twine to tie each bundle up like a present, being careful to trim the string ends so there’s nothing to catch fire while the chicken is cooking.  Spray each bundle, and the string, with olive oil.

Preheat the grill for medium, indirect heat (350 degrees), place the chicken on the grill and grill for 2-3 minutes – turning regularly to lightly sear all sides of each bundle and evenly cook the prosciutto.  Once the prosciutto is crispy, move the chicken to the side with the heat turned off, or turn the heat down and close the lid.  Either way, the lid needs to be closed, you still need to check the chicken and turn it occasionally and it should take 12 to 15 minutes to cook through.  Because it’s chicken, you could always carefully cut into the end of one to check, where the meat is the thickest.

Remove the chicken from the grill and let it rest for 5 minutes – do not tent it with foil, you’ll lose crispiness!

Snip off the twine and slice the bundles into 1-inch portions or serve them whole and let you’re guests do the cutting themselves.  Crazy good! – we had them with roasted potatoes and asparagus.