Bacon-wrapped Chicken with Boursin

This recipe was swiped from recipezaar.com, with a few small changes. It is delicious. Cinnilla and I may not eat for a week.



BACON WRAPPED BOURSIN STUFFED CHICKEN BREASTS

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 package smoked bacon (uncooked)
150g boursin (I used one with garlic & herbs)
4T olive oil
Few drops lemon juice
Fresh ground pepper
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes

Preheat oven to 375F. Place chicken breasts between two sheets of plastic wrap, and beat thin (I used a potato masher; a wooden mallet or heavy frying pan would also work well). Spread one side of each chicken breast with boursin, then roll the breast and wrap with bacon (I found 2 to 2 1/2 pieces of bacon per chicken breast was sufficient).



Brush a pan with olive oil and place the chicken breasts on the pan. Season with ground pepper, and drizzle 6 or 7 drops of lemon juice over each piece of chicken.

Roast the chicken in the oven for approximately an hour. After the first half hour, check the chicken and add the tomatoes to the pan.

I served this with roast potatoes and asparagus, also cooked in the oven on the rack below the chicken. About 10 small russet potatoes were washed, quartered, and sprinkled with seasoning salt and steak spice, then put in the oven 10-15 minutes before the chicken (for an hour and 10-15 minutes of total potato cooking time). I added the asparagus (drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with lemon pepper) to the potato pan in the last 20 minutes of cooking.



SAUCE

All of the chicken/boursin/bacon drippings
1/3 C whipping cream
1/4 C white wine
Fresh ground pepper
1 T corn starch (dissolved in a bit of water)

The original recipe says that the sauce is optional. The sauce is not optional. The sauce is so freaking good. We could eat it as soup. It is possible that more than one spoonful was consumed in this fashion. It is also possible that extra potatoes were consumed solely as an excuse for more sauce.

Add all ingredients to a small sauce pan and whisk over medium-low heat. Turn off the oven, but leave the chicken, potatoes etc. in the warmth while the sauce is simmering.

The sauce is really tasty. I don't know if I've made that sufficiently clear. (Edited to add: my parents have now tried this recipe, and my mother suggested renaming it to 'Boursin Bacon Cream Sauce with a Side of Bacon-Wrapped Chicken.')

As bonus information, our wine of choice for the evening was Red Bicyclette Syrah. It nicely complemented both the main course and the cayenne chocolate cupcakes we had for dessert. (We were shameless tonight, people.)