Chef's delight: Prosciutto Chicken

Recipe by Adrian Martin

A word from the chef

A simple way of adding lovely flavour to your chicken breasts. This is a popular mid-week meal in our home in Cavan. Sometimes you’d swear we were Italian!

INGREDIENTS

(Serves 4)

Olive oil

Two handfuls of spinach leaves

Sea salt

Four chicken breasts

One ball of mozzarella cheese, sliced

Eight slices of prosciutto ham

Eight chestnut mushrooms, sliced

Two sprigs of thyme, finely chopped

200ml beef stock (stock cube and water)

200ml cream

Freshly ground black pepper

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark4. Put two tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat and wilt the spinach. Season with a pinch of sea salt, then place onto some kitchen paper to soak up any moisture.

Slice into the side of each chicken breast to make a flap and then stuff them with equal portions of the cheese and wilted spinach. Wrap each chicken breast with two slices of the ham and then bake in a roasting tin for 25 minutes in the oven.

Put two more tablespoons of olive oil into the saucepan and cook the mushrooms over a high heat until they are soft. Make sure you get a nice colour on the mushrooms. Add the thyme and beef stock, and reduce by half over a really high heat. This normally takes one to two minutes. Finally, add the cream and season with salt and pepper.

Cook for a further two minutes until the sauce has thickened.

When the chicken is cooked pour over the sauce and serve.

ABOUT THE CHEF

Adrian Martin from Bawnboy is an ambassador for Nordmende Smart Living and Manor Farm. He is also a regular on our TV screens.

His latest cook book is ‘Create Beautiful Food at Home’. Adrian recently opened a new restaurant in Camden in London 'Mayflower'.