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.

Champagne Chicken with Avocado and King Prawns

Here is the first competition entry I have made, I will be posting more over the next couple of weeks so keep checking for your recipe entry. This was very good, a chicken breast served with a champagne sauce topped with avocado and king prawns. I served mine over wild rice with herbs and it was delicious. So thanks very much Danielle Amour for entering and for a great recipe.


Ingredients

2 Skinless breasts of chicken
1 Avocado
6 King prawns

The sauce
1 Onion, finely chopped
2 Cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup of chives
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Cup champagne
1 Chicken stock cube
1 Cup cream (Use just over 1 Cup.)
11/2 Teaspoons cornstarch (to thicken)


Method

1. Heat oil in a pan, add chicken, cook on a med heat until browned on both sides, and just a little pink in the middle. Set to one side.

2. In the same frying add a little more oil, add onion and garlic, cook until onion is transparent.

3. Add champagne, chives, and stock cube, stirring well to combine all ingredients. Let it come to a simmer, mix a little water with the cornflour and add some of the cornflour (you don't want to add it all as the cream has not been added yet and it will get too thick.) Stir until sauce has thickened slightly.

4. Add the cream, Return chicken breasts to the sauce. Cut the Avocado in half and fan each half. Place the fanned avocado on top of the chicken and the Prawns on top of the avocado, and let it simmer with a lid on a low heat, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is completely cooked.

5. I do not add remaining cornflour until the end as sometimes it will thicken completely while simmering. If you do need to add the extra cornflour remove chicken to warmed serving plate, add the rest of the cornflour, and stir until thickened this will only take a minute or so.


All photo's taken by me unless otherwise stated.