FLOWER POT KITCHEN: JALAPEÑO POPPER STUFFED FRIED CHICKEN

12 Aug 2018

JALAPEÑO POPPER STUFFED FRIED CHICKEN

Oh my gosh this is one of those I can't stop eating and not going to share winner dinners. Crispy Southern fried chicken stuffed with fresh jalapeños, hot cream cheese, gooey mozzarella and warm fresh burst of home grown cherry tomatoes, my family wolfed these down and the few extra I had planed for fridge raiding!

Prep time 15 minutes / Cooking time 10 minutes

Ingredients

(makes 4)

4 large chicken breasts

8 fresh jalapeños

1 lrg tub soft cream cheese

2 balls mozzarella

12 cherry tomatoes

1 cup AP flour

1 tbsp Himalayan sea salt

1 tbsp black pepper

1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs beaten

1 ltr frying oil

8 cocktail sticks

Fill your skillet two inches deep with oil and slowly bring up to 170 C / 338 F temperature.

Take the thick end of the chicken breast and on the side push a sharp knife in three quarters of the way in and then work the blade down the inside centre of the breast not piercing through the chicken, you a creating a pocket inside the chicken breast.

Deseed the jalapeños and slice them, depending on how hot you like your poppers mix the seeds and sliced jalapeño in to the cream cheese, divide by four and stuff in to each breast, push in three cherry tomatoes and then half a mozzarella ball. Use two cocktail sticks to pin the pocket hole closed.

To coat the chicken take two bowls, in one mix the all purpose flour, salt, pepper and baking powder, in the second bowl add the beaten eggs and season with salt and pepper. First toss the breasts in the flour, then the egg and then back in to the seasoned flour coating throughly.

Place the breast in the oil and leave for two minutes, turn and leave for a further two minutes repeat again cooking in total for approx 8 minutes. To check if the chicken is cooked all the way through take a metal skewer and instert in the thickest part of the chicken, leave in for a few seconds, remove and touch the skewer to the tip of your nose or upper lip if its warm/hot your chicken is cooked.

Remove from the oil, place on paper roll and rest for a minute, serve with comforting buttery mashed potatoes.

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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.