CHICKEN AND ASPARAGUS ROLLS RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using a sharp knife, split each chicken breast in half horizontally, then pound between 2 pieces of plastic wrap until about 3/8 inch thick (you should have 8 flattened pieces). Season on both sides with salt and pepper.
• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, saute chicken breasts and garlic until chicken is light brown on one side only, about 2 minutes; discard garlic.
• Transfer chicken to a baking sheet, browned side down. Sprinkle chicken pieces with half the cheese; layer each with a tomato slice and 4 asparagus pieces. Roll up; secure with a toothpick. Sprinkle remaining cheese over rolls; bake until chicken is cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove toothpicks. Serve hot.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 220°C.
• Lay out the sheets of puff pastry. They will defrost while you prepare the chicken.
• Cut the chicken breast into long strips. You will need half a large chicken breast or half a medium chicken breast plus the tenderloin from the other half.
• Sprinkle the stock powder over the chicken. I use an organic vegetable stock but use whatever you have. I have tried soy sauce but it makes the chicken too wet. Dry ingredients are better and light flavours don't overpower the asparagus. Add a grind or two of black pepper and a good pinch of salt. Make sure all the chicken is coated with some seasoning.
• Drain the asparagus well. Tinned/canned asparagus works really well in this recipe.
• The pastry should be defrosted enough to be able to cut the sheets in half. Cut each sheet in half to give you 10 strips.
• Put asparagus spears down the middle of each strip. Then lay a strip of chicken beside the asparagus.
• Beat an egg lightly and then brush some eggwash along the cut in the middle of the sheet of pastry.
• With a sheet in front of you with the cut going left to right (not up and down), take the edge near you and fold it over the chicken and asparagus. Use the folded edge to shove the filling nearer to you until it is tucked around the filling quite tightly.
• Now roll up the pastry to the eggwash and make sure the cut edge stays on the bottom of the roll.
• Brush the top with egg and sprinkle plenty of sesame seeds on top.
• Cut into 6 pieces.
• Repeat for the other 9 strips to give you 60 little bites.
• Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the pastry is cooked through. The chicken will cook in this time and will still be moist and tasty.
• Take the rolls off the baking tray and cool slightly on a wire rack. Then serve warm or leave on the rack and serve cold. They are equally good warm or cold. They can be reheated but, like all pastry dishes, are better freshly baked.
• The rolls in the photograph I have posted were made with a low-fat puff pastry. As expected, they haven't puffed up as much as usual pastry but still tasted good. Let's face it, pastry is never going to be a low-fat food so you may as well enjoy it but just not eat it all the time. I'll be going back to the usual next time. 14/12/07 - Edited to add an updated photo of rolls made with regular puff pastry. Also, I increased the amount of chicken.
• Note: put the sesame seeds in a dish and discard any that you don't use. They could be contaminated by the chicken so you don't want to put them back in the bag.