Meyer Lemon, Proscuitto and Spinach Smothered Chicken

Is there anything better than a Meyer Lemon? I think not. I still remember the first time I smelled a Meyer Lemon and I’ve been completely enthralled ever since. Their sweetness and delightful fragrance captivated me – what can I say, it was love at first smell.

Unfortunately for me, I can only find them about 2 weeks a year. Not cool at all. But during those 2 weeks, I hoard them and put them in and on everything. Literally. I can’t get enough of these little golden gems.

I have a stockpile of Meyer Lemons in my fruit basket, was searching around the internet looking for inspiration and saw a spinach pizza with Meyer Lemons on top from this site. Pure genius if you ask me. I don’t eat grains so regular pizza is a no-go for me, but I wanted to experience that flavor and knew I had some experimenting to do.

 So I created this dish from the help of the pizza inspiration and it is mouth wateringly amazing if I don’t say so myself. The Meyer Lemons add just the perfect touch of sweetness and freshness. It’s such a diverse complexity of flavors that work brilliantly well together.

 And even though I think Meyer Lemons are the star of this dish, I can’t forget to tell you about the prosciutto. I mean, who doesn’t love prosciutto?! The prosciutto gets all crispy and delicious and is the perfect flavor to complement my beautiful Meyer Lemons. This recipe is so good that I’m pretty sure I could eat this everyday of those 2 weeks that Meyer Lemons are available to me. But don’t just take my word for it, try it yourself and see!

Meyer Lemon, Prosciutto and Spinach Smothered Chicken

4-6 servings

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts

2-4 T fat of choice: coconut or olive oil, butter, animal, etc.

9 oz fresh spinach

4 oz prosciutto, torn into pieces

2 shallots (or ½ medium onion), chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 Meyer lemon (regular lemon would work, too, but Meyer lemons are ridiculously amazing in here)

salt and pepper

pinch garlic powder

Optional ingredients if you eat dairy:

1/3 cup feta cheese

sprinkling of Romano

*Feta and Romano are excellent, healthy choices if you can eat dairy. Romano is almost always made from the milk of grass fed sheep and feta is also usually made from the milk of grass fed goat or sheep.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat your oven to 375.

In a 9×13 baking dish, add 1-2 T fat of choice. Salt and pepper both sides of your chicken breast and add a small sprinkle of garlic powder to them.

Bake for 20 minutes.

While the chicken is baking, add 1-2 T of fat to a large skillet over medium heat.

Add your shallots (or onion) and garlic and cook for one minute.

Add the prosciutto and spinach to the pan and cook just until the spinach wilts. It won’t take very long at all.

Remove the skillet from the heat.

Once your chicken has baked for 20 minutes, remove the dish from the oven and spread the spinach mixture evenly over each chicken breast. If you are using the cheese, sprinkle the romano over each spinach topped breast and then add the feta.

Cut ¾ of the Meyer lemon into very thin slices and make sure to remove the seeds. Place the slices over the chicken breasts. Squeeze the juice from the remaining ¼ of lemon over all the chicken breasts.

Place the baking pan back into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, until chicken is cooked throughout. Let rest 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

*And yes, you can eat the whole Meyer Lemon slice – rind and all! It’s amazing!