Mushroom and Provençal Herb stuffed Chicken Breast with Polenta and Potato purée
This recipe combines some of the classic French flavours – chicken, wild mushrooms, cream and potato in a tasty main dish. None of the components take very long to prepare, and the polenta-potato purée can be made in advance to save time. Choose a selection of fresh wild mushrooms to enhance the flavour profile of this Provençal Herb stuffed Chicken Breast and enjoy!
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Mushroom and Provençal Herb stuffed Chicken Breast with Polenta and Potato purée
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts free range if possible
- 1 punnet (pint) Field Mushrooms
- 2 floury potatoes
- 50 g (2 oz) quick cook polenta
- olive oil
- a dash milk
- to taste salt and pepper
- 1-2 tbsp butter
- 2-3 tbsp Mascarpone cream
- 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 cups spinach
Instructions
- Start with the mash:
- Peel the potatoes and cook until floury, reserve the cooking water.
- Put the cooked potatoes through a ricer or mash by hand - the smoother the better.
- Cook the polenta in the reserved cooking water, making sure it's tender - you want a creamy consistency, so add more water if you need.
- Add some olive oil, a dash of milk, a knob of butter and salt and pepper to the polenta.
- Mix thoroughly the polenta and mashed potatoes and adjust the consistency with milk (or stock if you're non dairy) to make sure it's not too solid- set aside the potato polenta mixture or keep warm on very low temperature.
- Slice the mushrooms and pan fry with lots of thyme and a bit of olive oil (pick off the ends, no sprigs please). This should only take a few minutes.
- On a low flame, add a couple of tablespoons of Mascarpone.
- Turn off heat and set aside.
- Turn on fan oven to 160 degrees Celsius/320F.
- Pan roast the chicken breasts to brown on each side (don't cook through yet).
- Remove from the pan and carefully slice open the breast lengthways, not all the way to the ends or through to the bottom, to create a pocket.
- Fill the "pocket" generously with the mushrooms and sauce, season to taste.
- Put it in the oven for another 10 minutes to cook all the way through, turn down the heat to 70C/150F if you need to keep it warm.
- Cook some leaf spinach, making sure to discard any water at the end, you don't want your food to float in green sauce.
- Gently reheat the potato-polenta mash if necessary.
- Plate and serve with a glass of rosé.
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