Stuffed Chicken Breasts

I have again been bad and not posted any delicious tidbits (or even a rant) for a while. I'm not one of those people who will skip sleep to get everything done. I can't get anything done on less than six hours of sleep. It's 10:40 now and and if I don't finish this in twenty minutes, I'm ditching it and going to bed.

A few years ago, I made a stuffed chicken breast that had foccacia and pine nuts and a pomegranate pan sauce. I couldn't find the recipe so I decided to wing it. I know I have ranted and railed against chicken breasts, but if you recall, it is boneless, skinless ones I hate. I purchased bone-in, skin-on breasts. I cut a big pocket in the side of them and stuffed them with a stuffing mix as follows:
1 C sauteed leeks
2 1/2 C cubed challah (A foccacia at Wegman's was $4.00 for a teeny one! A challah was the same price, but it was more than twice as much)
I threw the bread into the pan to crisp it up after the leeks were done. Then I seasoned it with salt and pepper, added a handful of pine nuts, and about a 1/3 cup of dried sour cherries. you could use dried cranberries or raisins, but I happened to have some cherried hanging around. (Well, I am the Mendon Foodie after all. I have a well stocked cupboard. Just think of all that demi-glace in my freezer.)

After the chicken was stuffed, I added a little more olive oil to the saute pan and put the breasts in skin side down to brown. I flipped them over and stuck the pan into a 425 degree oven for about 35 minutes. When it was done, I took the chicken out of the pan and deglazed it with about 3/4 C pomegranate juice. I mashed a tablespoon of butter with a tablespoon of flour and swirled it in the pan, poured it over the chicken and voila, dinner was served. If you don't count the time in the oven, it took about 15 minutes. I roasted some sweet potatoes alongside it, (chunked, drizzled with olive oil,s alt and pepper) and Hannah made a salad of romaine, sauteed mushrooms and manchego cheese with a lemon vinagrette. My whole family was happy. We sat around the dinner table for forty mintues and talked about Alex's lego robot ideas and Hannah's views on human decency vis-a-vis the story of Elie Wiesel. You don't get those conversations over hamburger Helper or Stouffer's lasagna, mainly because people won't stay at the table for that long if you serve them crap. Do your family a favor: cook them something easy and tasty. you'll all be better off.