FLOWER POT KITCHEN: PIZZA STUFFED CHICKEN

13 Oct 2012

PIZZA STUFFED CHICKEN

Fabulous juicy cheesey tomato stuffed chicken wrapped in pancetta

Quick roasting pan white wine and stock sauce

Quick and easy way to stuff your chicken, this way you get to put more cheese stuffing in, I cut the chicken into fillet size fingers and then you lay them on the pancetta top to tail, these will fuse together while cooking.

Easy to cook, just pop in the oven for 30 minutes

I like my pancetta crispy and secondly the cooking juices add depth to the roasting pan gravy

De glaze the roasting pan with white wine and some chicken stock reducing by half before adding a dollop of double cream and seasoning.

(serves 4)

Ingredients
3 chicken breasts
1 pack pancetta
1 tbsp tom puree or a red pepper pesto
1 tsp mixed herbs, not if using pesto
1 ball of mozzeralla torn
50g guryere cheese
4 baby plum tomatoes quatered
1 shallot fine sliced
1 baby pepper fine sliced
Salt and pepper

For the roasting pan sauce
100ml dry white wine
1/4 jelly chicken stock cube
100ml water
100ml double cream or creme fraiche
Salt and pepper to taste

Mashed potato or vegetables to serve

Take your chicken breasts and slice into three so you have fillet fingers and then take a sheet of tin foil and layer the pancetta on this with no gaps, now place the chicken fillets top to tail snuggle, then top with all your fillings, roll up in the foil and twist the ends to make a tight roll, then bake in a pre heated oven of 200 degrees for 30 minutes.

At this point I like to unwrap, pour of the cooking juices into a bowl and then sear the pancetta that is wrapped around the chicken in a hot non stick frying pan. This is personal, I just have to have that added level of flavour and texture from the crisped pancetta, also this releases some more of the cooking juices from the chicken and the fat from the pancetta which makes a great added flavour to the quick sauce. You can sear the pancetta chicken in one piece or as I did into four portions. Remove and place in the oven for a couple of minuets while you make the stock sauce.

Keep the pan on the heat and pour in the reserved cooking juices, white wine and chicken stock to the roasting pan, reduce by half and the water and reduce a little, then add the cream and simmer, taste and season, reduce a little further if needed you would want the sauce to coat the back of a spoon.

Serve the chicken whole or sliced on top of the mashed potato and then drizzle over the wonderful roasting stock sauce, this is such a fab dish, even without the stock sauce.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.