This recipe for stuffed chicken breast with parma ham is an easy to prepare hearty meal. it's great for a sunny day and it involves the use of a meat mallet which is always fun! The chicken and cheese combination can be quite heavy, so it would be best served alongside some salad to keep it light.If mozzarella isn't to hand, you can also substitute it with most other kinds of cheese – with gorgonzola another good choice. I would advise against using a cream cheese though as it can become quite sickly if you use too much, I would suggest sticking to a firm white cheese.I usually serve this with green beans, a little leafy salad and some cherry tomatoes but it's also good with new potatoes.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts (skinless and boneless)
- 300 g mozzarella cheese
- 1 pack of parma ham (enough to cover the chicken)
- 4 handfuls of green beans
- garlic butter
- olive oil
- salad (optional)
- cherry tomatoes (optional)
Instructions
Preparation
- Very little preparation is needed, but if you can't get parma ham, you can use pancetta or serrano ham too. The salt of the ham helps bring the flavour of the cheese and chicken together.
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/400ºF/Gas Mark 6.
- Lay a chicken breast between two pieces of cling film and using a meat mallet, bash the chicken to a width of about ½cm/¼in thick then remove it carefully from the cling film and repeat for all four chicken breasts.
- Divide the mozzarella cheese in to 4 quarters, and place each quarter of cheese on the center of the chicken breast and tightly roll the chicken over so the cheese is wrapped inside the chicken – it will look a bit like a chicken sausage at this point. Repeat this process for each of the chicken breasts.
- Crack some black pepper over the chicken and then lay down 6 or so slices of parma ham on the worktop, and overlap them slightly, then place the chicken breast "sausage" on top and roll it over the ham so it wraps around it tightly. The ham should cover the chicken entirely and be quite firm now.
- Drizzle a little olive oil over each ham wrapped chicken breast roll and place on a baking tray and oven cook them for about 20-25 minutes. Turn the stuffed chicken gently half way through. When the ham starts to go from a deep red to a golden brown it should be ready.
- Meanwhile, blanch the green beans for a few minutes in boiling water, remove and season with some black pepper.
- Melt about 200g/7oz of garlic butter in a saucepan to make a simple sauce.
- Whilst still hot, serve one chicken breast per person together with the green beans. Then drizzle over the garlic butter to taste.
