Neven Maguire's Pesto-Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Rustic Mixed Potatoes
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 125g (4 ½oz) ball of mozzarella, torn into small pieces
- 4 tbsp basil pesto
- 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast fillets
- 8 sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 8 smoked streaky bacon rashers, rinds removed
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Rustic mixed potatoes:
- 450g (1lb) Rooster potatoes, scrubbed
- 225g (8oz) sweet potatoes, scrubbed
- 1 fresh rosemary sprig, broken into tiny sprigs
- sea salt flakes
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F/gas mark 6).
- Mix together the mozzarella, pesto and sundried tomatoes.
- Cut a slit into the side of each chicken breast and then stuff with the pesto-covered cheese.
- Wrap each stuffed chicken breast with 2 bacon rashers – not too tightly, but enough to hold the chicken together. Season with salt and pepper.
- To make the rustic mixed potatoes, cut the potatoes and sweet potatoes into 5mm (¼in) slices – a Japanese mandolin is perfect for doing this – and arrange in a single layer on a large roasting tray lined with parchment paper.
- Add the garlic and rosemary and season with salt. Drizzle over the oil and toss until evenly coated.
- Nestle the pesto-stuffed chicken breasts in the potatoes and roast for 20–25 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the bacon is crispy.
- Remove the chicken from the oven and rest in a warm place for 5 minutes.
- Return the potatoes to the oven in that time for a final crisp-up.
- To serve, arrange the pesto-stuffed chicken breasts on warmed serving plates with steamed French green beans and the rustic mixed potatoes.
