Broccoli-Stuffed Chicken -- The Body Needs Fuel, Even When the Heart Is Heavy

Memorial Day and the end of the school year and the beginning of a summer that will not look like any summer I have ever had, because this summer I will not go to David's, I will not take the grandchildren to the beach, I will not drive to the farm stand without a mask, I will not do any of the things that make Long Island summers feel like Long Island summers. I will be in this house with Marvin, cooking and writing and waiting for the world to decide it's safe to be human again.

George Floyd was killed today. I learned about it on the news and sat at the kitchen table and felt the specific rage of a woman who has spent forty-one years teaching young people to think critically about justice and who is watching, again, the failure of the country she loves to live up to the promises it made. I thought about Irving — Irving the union man, Irving the Democrat, Irving who believed that America was worth fighting for because America had let his parents in when Poland was about to kill them, and who also knew, with the clear-eyed honesty of a man who worked alongside Black men in the Garment District, that America's promises were unevenly distributed. I thought about my students — the ones who are Black, who sit in my classroom and read books about justice and then go home to a world where justice is theoretical. I have no recipe for this. There is no soup for this. There is only the work — the showing up, the teaching, the insistence that reading and thinking and talking about hard things is not sufficient but is necessary, and necessary is where I start.

I made a simple dinner — roasted chicken, potatoes, green beans. Sometimes the food is not the story. Sometimes the food is just the fuel for the body that has to carry the grief and the rage and the hope, and the body needs fuel, and the fuel needs to be good, and the chicken was good, and I ate it and I thought about my students and I thought about Irving and I thought about what I will say when school starts again, which is: we read. We think. We don't look away. We never look away.

I said there was no recipe for that day, and I meant it—but the dinner I made was real, and it was good, and something about the act of stuffing a chicken breast with something green and nourishing felt right for a night when I needed to do something with my hands that wasn’t just sitting with the weight of it all. This broccoli-stuffed chicken is close to what I made: nothing fancy, nothing that requires joy to execute, just a solid, honest meal that takes care of you the way you wish the world would take care of everyone. I have made this for Marvin on hard nights many times, and it has never once failed to do its quiet job.

Broccoli-Stuffed Chicken

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 55 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 6 oz each)
• 2 cups fresh broccoli florets, finely chopped
• 3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 2 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• Toothpicks or kitchen twine for securing

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven. Heat your oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a baking dish with olive oil or nonstick spray.
2. Make the filling. In a medium bowl, combine the chopped broccoli, cheddar cheese, cream cheese, and minced garlic. Mix until well combined. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
3. Prepare the chicken. Place each chicken breast on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, cut a deep pocket horizontally into the thickest side of each breast, being careful not to cut all the way through.
4. Stuff the chicken. Spoon the broccoli and cheese mixture evenly into each pocket—about 3–4 tablespoons per breast. Secure the opening with toothpicks or tie with kitchen twine so the filling stays in during roasting.
5. Season the outside. Brush each stuffed breast with olive oil. Combine the onion powder, smoked paprika, thyme, salt, and pepper and sprinkle evenly over the outside of each chicken breast.
6. Roast. Place the chicken in the prepared baking dish and roast for 30–35 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F and the outside is golden. Let rest 5 minutes before serving. Remove toothpicks before plating.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 340 | Protein: 42g | Fat: 15g | Carbs: 5g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 480mg