Sometimes a bit of crispiness does the trick. This is a simple recipe that everyone will like and can be done well in advance. You don’t have to serve fennel and tomato sauce as I have but the combination is a good one.
For 2 people you will need:
2 chicken breasts (see note 1)
A pack of prociutto (see note 2)
Breadcrumbs (see note 3)
An egg
A couple of tablespoons of seasoned flour
Sage leaves
A bulb of fennel
A lemon
Half an onion
2 cloves of garlic
4 fresh tomatoes (see note 4)
A little chopped flat leaf parsley to garnish or some fried sage leaves (see note 5)
Method:
Take your chicken breasts and pop them between a layer of clingfilm. Bash them until they are about twice the size, flat and even. Cut them in half and set aside.
Beat one egg in a shallow bowl, spread the seasoned flour on a plate and put the breadcrumbs on a plate.
Season the chicken pieces on both sides, pop a sage leaf on each side and then wrap a slice of prosciutto around each piece holding the sage in place.
Take each piece and dip in the flour, then the egg and then the breadcrumbs. Pat the breadcrumbs to ensure each piece has a good coating and then place on another plate. It’s useful to keep one hand dry and the other for dipping! Once they are all done you can cover and pop into the fridge until later.
Now to the fennel:
Trim the woody part from the bulb and cut into slices ensuring that there is some stalk on each one so they hold together. Steam over boiling water for 10 minutes or until tender and then set aside.
For the tomato sauce:
Finely chop the onion and garlic and sweat gently in a small pan in a little olive oil and half a teaspoon of salt until soft. Remove the skins from the tomatoes (or don’t if you can’t be bothered) chop into chunks and add to the pan. Gently simmer until the tomatoes have broken down. Set aside.
Bringing the dish together:
Remove the chicken pieces out of the fridge about half an hour before you want to cook them.
Put a little oil in a non-stick frying pan and when it’s really hot, pop in the pieces of fennel. Leave them for a minute of two until they have some light charring on the sides and then turn them over and repeat. Remove them from a pan to a plate, season with salt and pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Return the tomato sauce to a very low heat and gently reheat.
Now to the chicken. Pour in about 4 tablespoons of olive oil in the non-stick pan and pop in the chicken pieces. Fry for 2 minutes, flip over and fry for another 2 minutes. Remove from the pan onto a piece of kitchen roll to absorb any excess oil.
Presenting the dish:
I use deep bowls for this as it’s easier to make things look pretty.
Take a spoon or two of tomato sauce and put them in the base of the bowl, place 3 or 4 pieces of charred fennel on top and then cut your chicken pieces in 2 an an angle and pop them on the top. Et voila! Bon appetit!
You don’t have to serve with the fennel and tomato sauce as I do here. Just the chicken with some potatoes (steamed, mashed or even dare I say it chips) would be good or just a small dressed salad with a nice tangy vinaigrette.
Every step of this recipe can be done earlier in the day or even the day before so all you have to do is bring it together 10 minutes before serving.
Notes:
1 I used 2 chicken breasts for 2 of us but if you were serving a starter or having a dessert then 1 chicken breast is enough for 2 people. You’ll be surprised how far it goes when flattened and wrapped in a slice of prosciutto. In the end we ate one and half and Nigel had the other half for lunch the following day.
2 I used prosciutto but you can use any similar form of dried ham such as serrano or parma ham. It just needs to be thin enough to wrap around the breast easily.
3 I always have breadcrumbs in the freezer and on this occasion they were pretty chunky. You could use panko or finer crumbs no problem.
4 You can substitute fresh tomatoes for tinned. One small can would be sufficient for 2 people with some left over.
5 To garnish I used a little flat leaf parsley but I think some fried sage leaves would have been better. Just pop some sage leaves into a pan with some olive oil and fry until crispy. Remove, drain on kitchen roll, sprinkle with sea salt and pop on top of the chicken.
