Grilled Chicken Breast with Speck, Crimini, and Asparagus

By TaratheFoodie

Ingredients

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 lb. crimini mushrooms
• 4 slices of speck or prosciutto
• 4 fresh sage leaves
• 10 spears of asparagus
• 1/2 cup shredded Gouda cheese
• Olive oil - about 3 tablespoons
• Butter - 1 tablespoon
• Sea salt
• Fresh ground black pepper
• Garlic powder
• 6 About 6 sprigs of fresh thyme

Details

Servings 2
Adapted from tarathefoodie.blogspot.com

Preparation

Step 1

First, pound out your chicken. To do this, lay your chicken breast down on a plastic or silicon cutting board (these are best for raw meat because you can clean them good with soap and water), then cover the chicken breast with plastic wrap. The plastic wrap prevents chicken juice from spattering all over while you're pounding it out. Take a meat mallet and use the flat side to pound out the chicken breast to about 1/2 inch thickness. Remove the plastic wrap and throw away. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, & garlic powder to taste.

Before cooking your chicken, you'll want to get your toppings prepared. For the mushrooms, clean and slice the mushrooms, then sauté them in about a tablespoon of each: butter and olive oil. Season them with salt, pepper, & fresh thyme. When the mushrooms are done the way you like them, remove them from the pan and set them aside.

For the asparagus, clean them and snap off the woody ends. Dress the asparagus stalks in olive oil and season with salt, pepper & garlic powder. Add them to a hot grill or just use the pan you used for the mushrooms. Cook for just a few minutes so that they're bright green, but still firm and have a bite to them.

Get the other toppings out that you don't have to cook so they're ready when you need them: slices of speck or prosciutto (2 per chicken breast), fresh sage leaves (also 2 per chicken breast), and shred up the cheese of your choice (I used Gouda).

Now you're ready to cook the chicken.

Heat about a tablespoon or so of olive oil in the pan you used for everything else over medium heat. Add the chicken breast to the pan and let it cook without messing with it for a few minutes. Flip it over when the first side is golden brown. Cook the other side until golden brown, too, then turn the heat off from under the pan.

Top your chicken breast with all of your toppings, making the cheese last because it kind of fuses everything together. Cover the pan for a few minutes to melt the cheese. This will I've you a chance to put a quick side salad together. My salad in the picture above is just green leaf lettuce topped with sliced hearts of palm and capers.

To serve, just place the chicken breast on the plate and the salad right there beside it. Easy peasy.