Recipe for a simple yet delicious starter and main.
Easy Stuffed Mushrooms and Stuffed Chicken
I came across this recipe a few years ago, it's ridiculously easy but tastes like a more complicated dish that you've put loads of effort into.
Basically its a large or Portobello mushroom stuffed with soft garlic cheese like Boursin or Roule topped with Parma Ham and Parmesan Cheese. To follow is chicken breast also stuffed with soft garlic cheese and wrapped in Parma Ham with a red wine reduction. I've also added a few simple suggested accompaniments.
Stuffed Mushroom
Mushrooms stuffed with soft cheese
Ingredients:
Mushroom (Portobello or other large type)
Soft Garlic Cheese (I use Boursin)
Parma Ham (or other similar cured ham)
Grated Parmesan
Get a large mushroom and take out the stalk (you can chop the stalk and add it to the cheese to make it go further if required). Where the stalk was spoon in a dollop of the cheese then top off with a slice of the ham and put it in a fairly hot oven for 10 minutes or until the mushroom looks nearly cooked then sprinkle some Parmesan on top and grill the whole thing for a few minutes until the Parmesan melts and the ham is crispy.
Stuffed Chicken
Chicken breast wrapped in cured ham
Chicken breast (whole)
Soft Garlic Cheese (I use Boursin)
Parma Ham (or other cured ham)
Red Wine 1 1/2 cups per chicken breast (I use Shiraz but a cheap fruity one is fine)
Sugar about a teaspoon per chicken breast (muscovado is best but plain white works too)
Stuff the chicken with a couple of large teaspoons worth of the cheese, this can be done in a few ways the simple of which is to slice the meat laterally about 3/4's through and open it out lay the cheese along the fold and put the breast back together. Alternatively you can use a kitchen mallet to flatten the meat and then roll the cheese inside or think up your own method so long as you have cheese on the inside and chicken on the outside you'll be fine. Then wrap a couple of slices of the cured ham around the chicken, secure with a cocktail stick or two, place in a frying pan and add the wine and sugar.
Cook on the hob turning the chicken often until its cooked through. Try not to over cook it. Remove the chicken and turn the hob up to maximum and reduce the remaining wine to a dark purple syrupy sauce to pour on the chicken.
Some Useful Stuff
Accompaniments.
A few ideas to go with it.
The starter is fine by itself, maybe a bit of crusty bread but the main needs something with it. I mainly use pasta, fresh tagliatelle is great or spinach and ricotta filled tortellini with garlic bread is excellent. Another addition I find works really well is a tomato based pasta sauce;
Makes about 1 pint/500ml
1/2 small onion finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic crushed
enough butter to fry the above in
1 Can of chopped tomatoes or passata
teaspoon of dried oregano
1 cup red wine
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
salt and pepper to taste
5 heaped teaspoons of grated parmesan
Fry the onions and garlic in the butter until translucent then add the rest of the ingredients in turn except the parmesan and simmer for 30 minutes then stir in the parmesan and serve.