We don’t “celebrate” Valentine’s day but it is just another opportunity for me to make something new, experiment with new ingredients. This year Valentine’s day was on the weekend. Yay! I had the whole day to prepare something nice. To add to the excitement we had the entertaining Indo-Pak world cup game to watch!

This time I had no idea about what to make so I decided to visit Whole Foods for some inspiration. With the visit to their cheese collection I got an idea of making five cheese stuffed chicken with some sauce. I thought my favorite Fennel and Figs would make a nice tangy and sweet sauce.

The Filling –

I chose Ricotta Cheese, Parmesan Cheese, Cream Cheese, Mild Cheddar and Gouda Cheese. I like bleu cheese but my valentine is not a big fan of that so I decided not to use. Bleu Cheese would add a nice pungent kick to the dish though.

I chose equal amount of all the cheeses about 1/4 cup. Cream Cheese and Ricotta are good binding cheeses here. You need to add some freshly minced garlic, salt, pepper, finely chopped basil leaves, some finely chopped chives and some hearty Rosemary. Mix all well, give a taste test and set aside.

The Chicken

I chose thinly sliced Chicken breast. With the help of meat pounder I made the Chicken breast even thinner. You need to make sure not to break the muscle tissue. Now very carefully you need to spread the filling mixture on the chicken breast leaving about 1/2 inches from all the sides.  Starting from the thinner end of the chicken breast you need to roll just like swiss roll. I used kitchen twine to tie the rolls tightly. Keep aside for 5 minutes.

The Sauce

In a heavy bottom pan (Preferably something you can use on the stovetop and in the oven) heat some olive oil and add sliced white onions, sliced fennel and some sliced figs. I used a mix of fresh and dried figs. If you don’t have fresh figs at all you can very well use the dried ones. Saute them on a medium heat just till they are a little translucent. Add salt, pepper and little brown sugar. Add some minced garlic and some thyme. You can also use any leftover cheese mixture if you have. If you find the sauce too thick you can add some vegetable stock or water. Cook for 5 more minutes. Cool and run it through the blender. This will make a nice and smooth sauce.  Put the sauce back to pan. Arrange the chicken rolls on the sauce carefully and cook on the stovetop for 5 minutes and in the oven for next 25 minutes. The moisture from the sauce keeps the chicken soft. You can also bake some tomatoes with the stuffed cheese mixture. Tastes divine.

I served this with simple saffron rice and some roasted garlic. It paired very well with my favorite moscato d’asti. My Valentines ( 36 and 5) loved it. I hope you do too.