So we have had our starter of breads and dips and now we move onto the main’s, this is great as in this can all be done in advance with just a little warming once you are ready to eat.
I love chicken , who doesn’t but sometimes it can be boring and a little bland, well not these, they have smoked bacon, white wine, shallots , herbs, mushrooms and cream, they are a super treat for you and your Valentine this weekend.
Chicken Ballotines seem really fancy and taste so good that your valentine will be super impressed with your cooking skills, but actually there are not too hard and if you follow my steps you will master this and really wow your dinner guest.
Serves 2
Preparation : 60 minutes
Total time: 90 minutes
Clare’s Cheeky Chicken Ballotines with Crushed Potatoes and Fresh Minted Greens
Ingredients
- 2 large Chicken Breasts
- 4 good quality streaky dry cur smoked rashers
- 200g potatoes
- 100g of mushrooms, 1/2 diced 1/2 sliced
- 2 medium shallots dices
- 2 cloves of grated garlic
- 150mls of white wine
- 1 low soduim chicken stock cube or 50mls of fresh chicken stock
- 50mls of cream
- 2tbs cracked black pepper
- Zest of half a lemon
- 1tbs Fresh chopped Thyme
- 2tbs of Grain mustard
- 50g of Strong Cheddar cheese
- 200g selection of greens
- 30g of Butter
- 1tbs of fresh chopped mint
Directions
1/ Begin with the stuffing for your chicken, place the shallots , 1/2 the mushrooms’s (the diced half) in a saucepan, top with the white wine, mustard, garlic, stock,pinch of pepper, lemon zest and thyme, cook this until nearly all the liquid has evaporated , take out half the mixture and place in a bowel to cool down (do not add hot stuffing to the meat allow this time to cool), in the pan add the sliced mushrooms and saute these off, leave to one side.
2/ Get two sheets of Grease proof paper and bash your chicken breast out, make them quiet thin, maybe the thickness of a euro coin, flatten out the bacon also, once both are flattened out, place two rashers on two sheets of cling flim, top with the chicken and place half the stuffing inside and roll, use the cling to assist you and leave this in tightly in place as this stays on while you poach the chicken. Place the chicken in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up.
3/ Bake the potatoes, place in a hot oven, no need to wrap, no need to add anything, place straight onto the racks and back for 35-45 minutes
4/ Steam your chosen greens until a tad under cooked, place in bowel until later
5/ remove the potato centres, and lightly crush, add the cheese and pepper and mix well, leave to one side
6/ Place your chicken in a pan of hot water and poach for 10-12 minutes, remove from the pan, remove cling and place in a non stick frying pan (no oil as the rashers will create there own) and brown on all sides
7/ Add the cream to your mushroom stuffing mixture you set aside earlier and warm through, taste and season as you feel needed
7/ Warm your potatoes, warm your greens with the chopped mint and plate up your meat as per the pictures.
Enjoy!!
Top Tip: All this can be ready hours in advance, have the chicken cooked up until the point of frying, have the sauce to the point of adding the cream and the vegetable just need a warm through in your microwave.
Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people
❤ Clare with the Hair ❤
ClareWithTheHair.Com 