I may have mentioned before that when it comes to a nice home-cooked dinner Chez Kuka, nothing trumps meat stuffed with cheese and wrapped in another meat.
So when we discovered a recipe for chicken involtini with smoked mozzarella in my brand new cookbook, the main course for our New Year's Eve dinner was a no-brainer.
We did have one substitute ingredient - that week between Christmas and New Year was spent as close to home as possible, so we had to make do with what we could get from the local supermarket. That said, the deli at our local is pretty good, so we didn't miss out too much. We couldn't get the lovely long slices of pancetta the recipe call for, just little round ones. This made wrapping a bit trickier, but laying the meat out on some plastic wrap and assembling the chicken on top helped, plus I could then twist the ends of the plastic wrap to make a tight little chicken parcel which I then refrigerated for half an hour or so to help it keep its shape. And it worked a treat.
The only other almost substitute was that we couldn't get smoked mozzarella, so we used bocconcini instead (which is suggested as an option in the recipe).
And the result was delicious! I think it looks a tiny bit pink in the pictures, but it was actually cooked perfectly through - one of the reasons that we so love these recipes that wrap the chicken this way is that it keeps the chicken just so beautifully moist! I also think this is a good recipe for this time of year, since - apart from the assembly - the cooking time is so quick that the oven doesn't have to be on for too long, and it worked really we served with a fresh garden salad. Plus it would be fun to play a bit with the flavours by using different ingredients for the filling - I think brie with strawberries and basil would be tasty mmmm
this month I'm cooking from Delicious - quick smart cook
xo
So when we discovered a recipe for chicken involtini with smoked mozzarella in my brand new cookbook, the main course for our New Year's Eve dinner was a no-brainer.
We did have one substitute ingredient - that week between Christmas and New Year was spent as close to home as possible, so we had to make do with what we could get from the local supermarket. That said, the deli at our local is pretty good, so we didn't miss out too much. We couldn't get the lovely long slices of pancetta the recipe call for, just little round ones. This made wrapping a bit trickier, but laying the meat out on some plastic wrap and assembling the chicken on top helped, plus I could then twist the ends of the plastic wrap to make a tight little chicken parcel which I then refrigerated for half an hour or so to help it keep its shape. And it worked a treat.
The only other almost substitute was that we couldn't get smoked mozzarella, so we used bocconcini instead (which is suggested as an option in the recipe).
And the result was delicious! I think it looks a tiny bit pink in the pictures, but it was actually cooked perfectly through - one of the reasons that we so love these recipes that wrap the chicken this way is that it keeps the chicken just so beautifully moist! I also think this is a good recipe for this time of year, since - apart from the assembly - the cooking time is so quick that the oven doesn't have to be on for too long, and it worked really we served with a fresh garden salad. Plus it would be fun to play a bit with the flavours by using different ingredients for the filling - I think brie with strawberries and basil would be tasty mmmm
this month I'm cooking from Delicious - quick smart cook
xo
Oh Yum, that looks so delicious. Sometimes when you use ham or bacon or pancetta, it turns the other food slightly pink, so it looks uncooked.
ReplyDeleteNice January Cook Book Cooking!!
Yummo ;-) That looks fabulous. Good job Kuka!
ReplyDeleteThat looks so mouthwateringly delicious.
ReplyDeleteSo what time's dinner?
ReplyDelete