Savory Sage-Stuffed Chicken

Well, I've already fallen behind on posting. To be fair, that's because I worked the closing shift four of the last seven days, and then had an amazing free meal last night (miso mustard-glazed salmon, crispy chicken, corn bread with a black vinegar glaze, pickled watermelon, bean sprout salad, griddled pork bun with green sriracha aioli, and the best cocktails on Earth). But enough of my excuses!
Sunday I had a friend over for dinner and decided to but out a trusty old favorite that I haven't made in at least a year: my sage-stuffed chicken.

For 2 servings, you'll need:
Two 1"-thick chicken breast halves (try to get ones that look as uniform in thickness as possible, not tapering off too much away from the sternum, because you'll be butterflying them)
1 oz Sage Derby Cheese
Butter
6-8 sage leaves, fresh
Breadcrumbs
Dried Sage
Dried Thyme
Dried Savory
Dried Marjoram
An oven
A light/medium cookie sheet

First, preheat your oven to 425 F degrees. While that's warming up, remove any extra fat from the chicken breasts. If you bought a whole chicken breast and are rending it in asunder yourself (heehee) then you may also have some tough sternum tissue to remove. Choose your sharpest chef's knife and slice the chicken breast parallel to your cutting board, butterflying the chicken and leaving one side connected, so that the chicken breast opens like a book.

Next, grab some wax paper and cover the "open-book" chicken breasts, and grab your meat masher! If you don't have a tenderizing mallet, do what I did for years and use the bottom of a tequila bottle--just make sure you hit with it coming straight down, bottom parallel to the counter, not at an angle like you want the break it. If you are using a tenderizing mallet, use the side with the smallest ridges so we tenderize the meat but don't tear it badly. Pound the chicken out until it is about half the thickness it started, making sure you don't pulverize the edges.
Remove the wax paper and lay slices of the Sage Derby cheese on one side of each chicken breast, keeping it away from the outer end so it doesn't melt out onto the pan during baking. Lay your fresh sage leaves over the cheese in each one and add a few slivers of butter. Sprinkle one pinch each of Thyme, Savory and Marjoram on each chicken breast, then fold the books closed, pressing along the edges and making sure all the filling is tucked out of sight while being evenly distributed on the inside.

Wash your hands(!) and lightly grease your cookie sheet. On a plate, pour enough bread crumbs to thickly coat your chicken. Add in ~1tsp (or to your tastes) of each of the dried herbs, including the sage this time. Mix this into the breadcrumbs thoroughly. Grab a small handful of the crumbs and make two beds on the pan where your chicken will sit. This will ensure that the bottoms of the chicken will be coated, that the meat itself won't stick to the pan, and that any drippings from within the chicken will get caught in the crumbs and come off the pan with the meal, safeguarding against a tragic loss of cheese. Set the chicken breasts themselves in the plate full of breadcrumbs, turning them over a few times and pressing the crumbs on for a nice, even coating. Lay them on the crumb beds when you're finished, building up some breadcrumbs on the sides of the chicken and filling in any bare spots in the coating.

Pop the cookie sheet in the oven for 25 minutes. Remove, make a cut in one chicken breast to make sure the chicken is thoroughly cooked (not pink on the inside), and serve immediately!