Semi-Paleo Chicken Asparagus Roll-Ups

Chicken, asparagus, cheese & a lemony crust – what’s not to love? I adapted this from Monica’s recipe on Allrecipes.com. I switched from a Panko flake coating to one of Parmesan cheese with a little shredded Parmesan/Romano/Asiago (which I call PRA cheese), but if you want to be pure Paleo, eliminate the cheeses and make your own mayo from olive oil. 

Since this was kind of spur-of-the-moment, I cut the recipe in half and baked it in our convection toaster oven.

Ingredients:

1/2 c mayonnaise

3 T Dijon mustard

1 lemon, juiced and zested

2 t dried tarragon

1 t ground black pepper

½ t salt

24 spears fresh, young (thin) asparagus

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

4 slices provolone cheese

½ c grated Parmesan cheese

2 T shredded PRA cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. (The original recipe said 475 but our toaster oven doesn’t go that high.)

Mix together the first six ingredients and set aside.

Place a chicken breast between two sheets of wax paper on a solid, level surface. Firmly pound the chicken breast with the smooth side of a meat mallet to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. (Note: I’ve never been able to get them down to ¼ inch – the best I seem to be able to do is about ½ inch but that seems to be thin enough.) Repeat with the rest of the chicken breasts.

Remove lower stems from asparagus (this is done by bending the stalk until it finds its own natural breaking point) and discard. Cook the tops in the microwave on high until just tender, about 1 minute.

Place a slice of Provolone on each chicken breast, and top the cheese with 6 asparagus spears per breast. (Note: I didn’t have Provolone so I used Provel – a sort of pizza cheese – and it worked out well.) Roll the chicken breasts around the asparagus and cheese, and place seam sides down in a greased baking dish. With a pastry brush, apply a generous coating of the mayonnaise mixture to each chicken breast, and sprinkle each with the Parmesan and PRA cheeses.

Bake in the preheated oven until the cheese is browned and the chicken juices run clear, about 30 minutes.