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.

Filet Mignon With Goat Cheese and Balsamic Reduction and Asparagus With Morels

I made two recipes from the same zaar member and they were awesome I was a little concerned with the amount of vinegar but if you leave it to simmer as stated it worked out great (I did just a liitle bit longer and it was perfect.) I am only going to do one link as no one had made or reviewed the asparagus but you will still be able to see other recipes by this chef if you use the one link. It is the first time I have made a dish and used the same chef for the meat and the vegetables but glad I did, thoroughly enjoyed. There was one difference my steaks were huge (about 11/2-2 inches thick) so I did cook longer. I have also posted these one after the other not like I usually do, but just felt it worked better for this one. If you like this recipe or would like to read more reviews or view photo's click here.

Ingredients

1 1/2 Cups balsamic vinegar
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons butter
6 (5ounce) filet mignon steaks (each about 1-inch thick)
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
2 Ounces soft fresh goat cheese


Method

1. Boil the balsamic vinegar and sugar in a heavy small saucepan over medium-high heat until reduced to 1/3 cup, stirring occasionally, about 18 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, preheat the broiler.

3. Melt the butter in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat.

4. Sprinkle the steaks with salt and pepper.

5. Cook the steaks to desired doneness, about 3 minutes per side for medium-rare.

6. Transfer the steaks to a baking sheet.

7. Crumble the cheese over the steaks and broil just until the cheese melts, about 1 minute.

8. Sprinkle with pepper.

9. Transfer the steaks to plates. Drizzle the balsamic sauce around the steaks and serve.


Asparagus with Morels

1lb White asparagus, cut in 2-inch pieces
1lb Green asparagus, cut in 2-inch pieces
6 Tablespoons butter
1/2 Cup shallots, chopped
1/2lb Morels, cleaned and halved
Sea salt and pepper, fresh ground
1 Tablespoon fresh tarragon, plus more
Fresh tarragon, for garnish
1 Tablespoon lemon juice


Method


1. cook asparagus separately in boiling water or in microwave until tender, 3-5 minutes.

2. refresh under cols water.pat dry.

3. heat 3 tbsp butter in large skillet, add shallots and cook until softened. add morels and saute 5 minutes more.

4. add asparagus, tarragon, salt and pepper and continue cooking until heated through.

5. add remaining butter and remove from heat.

6. stir in lemon juice and garnish with tarragon.


All photo's taken by me unless otherwise stated.