Colorful Chicken Roulade

Versatile chicken breasts are a common choice for a weeknight dinner when you haven't a minute to spare.

With a little bit of extra effort, though, chicken breasts needn't be common at all. In fact, when stuffed with savory spinach, mushrooms and roasted red bell pepper -- and with each slice displaying the colorful filling -- they can be impressive enough to serve on the good china at a weekend dinner party.

At Carlos' restaurant in suburban Chicago, the chicken is arrayed on a bed of risotto.

Chicken Breast Roulade

With Vegetables

6 servings

To speed up the preparation, the chicken breasts can be filled the day before, covered and refrigerated. Then you need only to brown and roast them.

Adapted from "Carlos," by Debbie and Carlos Nieto (Gibbs Smith, 2005).

1 pound spinach, stemmed and rinsed

4 tablespoons canola oil

1/2 pound mushrooms, any variety, sliced

1 medium roasted red bell pepper, peeled, seeded and diced