T SCHOOL RECIPE OF THE DAY

Quick and easy for a midweek supper, this chicken dish is packed full of enough flavor to impress guests too. It is a bit of cheat; chicken breasts have no business going anywhere near the oven, and done properly this would be wrapped in cling-film and poached. I split the breasts and flash fried them for 2 minutes in a frying pan to give color and then finished off in the oven.

You could use ready roasted peppers from a jar to save a bit more time, but roasting them is not time consuming or difficult. You can roast a few cloves of garlic at the same time and add a lovely mellow garlic flavor to the dish. Garlic can often be overpowering, especially when it doesn’t get a chance to cook out. The more that you use garlic carefully, to enhance rather than flavor dishes, the more you begin to understand how to use it.

I love a big hit of garlic in my food, but I have learnt that there is a time and a place for everything. Perfecting your palate is something that is learnt over a lifetime of cooking, and is never truly achieved. Amateur cooks often throw everything at a dish, and as they gather experience learn to use less and less. Even big full flavoured spicy dishes need carefully balancing to achieve those flavours. Think about what you want to achieve with a dish, and where all the elements fit into the grand scheme of things. Tread carefully with the items that add; you can add more but probably not take it away. Taste, taste, taste, every step of the way.

Servings: 4

Cooking Times

• Preparation Time: 30 minutes
• Cooking Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

For the filling

• 1 red pepper
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp basil, chopped
• 1 handful baby spinach leaves, chopped
• 1 artichoke
• 50ml chicken stock
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• flaked sea salt
• freshly-ground black pepper
• 4 chicken breast fillets
• 1/2 lemon, juice only

Procedure

1.Preheat the oven to 180°C and place the pepper, artichokes and garlic cloves on a baking tray with a drizzle of oil and a pinch of salt.

2. Bake for about 15 minutes until the pepper is blackened and wrinkly but not completely collapsed and the artichoke is soft. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

3. Make a lengthwise slit through the chicken breasts so that you have a pocket. If you place the breast in front of you, one side will be thicker and more rounded. Go in from the other side, the side that is straighter; just make an incision and follow the breast round leaving about a cm around the rounded edge. You do not need to be to fanatical about it as the stuffing is designed to spill over anyway. The chicken will cook better though with the filling inside rather than plonked on top.

4. Heat a frying pan over a high heat and add a drop of oil, when it is really hot put the breasts in and fry on each side for about a minute. Just to give the outside a little colour.

5. Remove the breasts from the heat and place in a baking tray, top side down.

6. Peel the pepper, remove seeds and membranes, then chop roughly. Peel the garlic and mash with the back of a knife. Cut the end off of the artichoke and blend in a food processor with the chicken stock and season with salt and pepper to make the puree.

7. Mix all the filling ingredients together and push as much as you can inside the chicken. Put the rest between the fillets, squeeze over with lemon juice, salt, pepper and a sprinkle of water to add moisture and help create steam. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 10-15 minutes depending on the size of the fillets. You want them at the point that they are not pink, but only just cooked. Moist and juicy is the keyword here.

8. Remove from the oven and serve hot with a fresh green leafy salad.

Healthy, guilt free eating the T School Way!  Bon Appetit everyone!