Italian Stuffed Chicken Breast with a Marsala Sauce

Yet another experiment and another success I am pleased to say. This is very easy to do and tastes delicious, the only fiddly thing is tying it with the kitchen string and I hate that anyway. Well actually that's not entirely true, it is more if I am stuffing something with cheese as you have to get the string as tight as possible to stop the cheese from melting out. Anyway enough about kitchen string and more about the dish. Feel free to serve it anyway you want I served mine over celeriac mash which was a really lovely accompaniment, but regular mash would be fine, or just vegetables if that is what you are in the mood for. If you would like to make the celeriac mash click here for a link to my recipe. I only made this for 2 so I hope I have guessed right on the amount of cheese, please adjust if this is not enough.

Ingredients

4 Chicken Breasts
5-6 Tablespoons Appenzeller
5-6 Tablespoons Gruyere
2 Tablespoons Parmesan (All 3 cheeses should make a cupful maybe a little over, that should be enough for the 4 breasts.)
8 Sage leaves, 2 per breast
4-8 Slices of prosciutto (I have said this, as if they are quite wide slices, 1 per breast and if they are thin slices, you will need 2.)


Marsala Sauce

1 Cup marsala
2 Teaspoons chicken stock granules
1/2 Cup reduced fat cream
1/2 Cup thick doulble cream
2 Teaspoons tarragon
1 Teaspoon cornflour
Pepper to taste

Method

1. Pound chicken with a meat mallet until it is close to the same thickness all over about 1/4 inch.
2. Lay a slice of prosciutto over breast, 2 if they are thin, top with two sage leaves, laying them top to bottom down the centre of the breast. Distibute cheese equally among the breasts again lay it top to bottom down the centre of the breast.

3. Fold breast over to join, secure with kitchen string at close intervals, tying as tightly as you can, to prevent cheese from melting out of the chicken breast during cooking.

4. Heat a small amount of olive oil in a pan, add chicken breasts and brown on both sides to give the breast a nice rich colour.

5. Transfer breasts to an ovenproof dish and finish cooking in a pre-heated oven 180c. It will take about 30-40 Min's depending in the size of the breasts.


Sauce

1. Add 1 cup of marsala, 2 teaspoons chicken stock, heat through, add 1/2 cup reduced fat cream and the double cream, mix a little water with the cornflour add a little at a time, to thicken, add pepper to taste and stir in tarragon.


To serve: Place a couple of spoonfuls of mash on a plate, slice chicken, and arrange over the top drizzle sauce over.

Duck Breast Stuffed with Ham and Sun Dried Tomato

Here is another recipe I have made by a Zaar member, I haven't tried one in awhile and since I have done so much cooking and preparation over Christmas and the New Year, it was nice to follow someone else's recipe and not have to think about ingredients or plan ahead.

The recipe itself was very good I have tried a few recipes by this member and most of hers are outstanding, however my only criticism with this, is it was a little dry. The recipe doesn't state to make a sauce with it, and I made a port wine sauce and very much felt although the flavours were delicious without the sauce it would have been too dry. Pairing it with the sauce made for a lovely duck breast meal. If you would like to see more photo's or other recipes by this chef click here.

Ingredients

4 Large duck breasts, skin intact

The Stuffing

8 Large spinach leaves
60ml olive oil
Salt (I didn't use salt)
Black pepper
5 Slices prosciutto
225g Very lean ground chicken
6 Large sun-dried tomatoes, minced
2 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon leaves



Method


1. Heat a small amount of the olive oil in a pan and fry the spinach leaves. Season with salt and pepper and drain on kitchen paper.

2. Finely chop one slice of prosciutto and trim the rest.

3. In a bowl, combine the diced ham (and any trimmings), chicken mince, tomatoes, garlic, tarragon and season with salt and pepper.

4. Shape the mixture into 4 patties the length of the duck breasts and pan fry in this shape.

5. When cooked 3-4 minutes, wrap each patty first in 2 spinach leaves, then a slice of prosciutto.

6. Stuff these patties under the skin of the duck breast and re-form the skin over the breast.If there is not enough skin, secure with 2 cocktail sticks.

7. Fry the breasts skin side down in a little olive oil for about 10 minutes (this will crisp the skin and render its fat) then a further 3 minutes on the underside.

Because of the stuffing I only served mine with vegetables as I knew it would be to filling for us with potato as well, but roasted new potatoes would be nice with this recipe.


All photo's taken by me unless otherwise stated