CHICKEN WITH BREADCRUMBS RECIPES

Steps:

• 1. You don’t often see whole chicken that’s been stuffed like this. I think that’s a real shame because it adds such beautiful flavour and the natural juices from the chicken will give you the most gorgeous stuffing.
  2. Preheat your oven to 240°C/475°F/gas 9. Heat a good lug of olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add your onion and garlic and cook for about 10 minutes until soft, but not coloured. Add the mushrooms with the leaves from a few of your thyme sprigs. Turn the heat up to high and fry for 5 to 10 minutes until the mushrooms go slightly crispy. Remove from the heat, grate in the zest of the lemon and season well. Tip into a bowl and leave to one side to cool.
  3. Once the mixture has cooled, use clean hands to mix in the pine nuts and breadcrumbs, then add the egg. Carefully, push your fingers between the meat and skin on the top of the chicken then gently create a pocket for the stuffing. Push a quarter of the stuffing into this pocket and roll the remaining mixture into balls and pop to one side. Cut your zested lemon in half and place in the chicken cavity with the remaining thyme sprigs. Pop your chicken in a roasting tray, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
  4. Place in the preheated oven and turn the heat down to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Cook for 40 minutes, then add your mushroom stuffing balls to the tray. Return to the oven and cook for a further 35 minutes until gorgeous and golden. To check your chicken is cooked, stick a skewer into the fattest part of the thigh – if the juices run clear, your chicken is done. Leave to rest for 10 to 15 minutes, covered loosely with tin foil, then serve with fluffy roast potatoes and seasonal greens.

Steps:

• 1. Fry the bacon in a pan on a medium heat with a tiny drizzle of olive oil, until golden and crisp, then remove.
  2. For the butter, peel the garlic, then finely chop with the parsley leaves and mix into the softened butter with the cayenne. Firm up in the fridge.
  3. Working one-by-one on a board, stuff the chicken breasts. To do this, start by pulling back the loose fillet on the back of the breast – put your knife in the opposite direction and slice to create a long pocket (for extra guidance, watch the how-to video below).
  4. Open the pocket up with your fingers, cut the chilled butter into four and push one piece into the pocket, then crumble in a rasher of crispy bacon. Fold and seal back the chicken, completely covering the butter and giving you a nice neat parcel. Repeat with the 3 remaining breasts.
  5. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.
  6. Place the flour in one shallow bowl, whisk the eggs in another, and put the breadcrumbs and a pinch of seasoning into a third. Evenly coat each chicken breast in flour, then beaten egg, letting any excess drip off, and finally, turn them in the breadcrumbs, patting them on until evenly coated.
  7. Shallow-fry in 2cm of sunflower oil on a medium to high heat for a couple of minutes on each side, or until lightly golden, then transfer to a tray and bake in the oven for 10 minutes, or until cooked through. You can bake them completely in the oven and skip the frying altogether, you just need to drizzle them with olive oil and bake for about 20 minutes – they won’t be as golden, but they’ll be just as delicious.
  8. Meanwhile, peel and roughly chop the potatoes and cook in a large pan of boiling salted water for 12 to 15 minutes, or until tender.
  9. Chop up the broccoli and add it to the potatoes for the last 8 minutes. Drain and leave to steam dry, then return to the pan and mash with a knob of butter and a pinch of salt and pepper.
  10. Divide the mash between your plates and place a Kiev on top of each portion. Lightly dress the spinach leaves or rocket in a little oil and lemon juice, then sprinkle over the top as a salady garnish. Serve with a wedge of lemon on the side.