Karen Coakley's Baked Chicken Caprese with Hazelnut and Coolea Pesto.
Ingredients
Chicken Caprese
- 4 chicken fillets with the skin on
- 2 balls of fresh Mozzarella, cut into 12 even slices
- 12 slices of fresh tomato
- 12 whole fresh basil leaves
- 8 tbsp of cream
- 6-8 tbsp of Homemade Pesto
- Olive oil
- Sea salt and black pepper
Hazelnut and Coolea Pesto
- 50g of basil
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 40g of hazelnuts
- 20g grated parmesan
- Good quality olive oil
- Pinch of sea salt
Method
Chicken Caprese
- Preheat the oven to 180 deg or gas mark 4. Make 3 deep scores across the width of each chicken, you want to make a deep pocket without cutting right through the base of the fillet.
- Coat them with olive oil and season very well with sea salt and black pepper.
- Next take a slice of tomato, a slice of mozzarella and 1 leaf of basil and fill the first pocket you have made with these, repeating until the chicken fillet has all 3 pockets filled with tomato, mozzarella and basil.
- Repeat this process with the other 3 chicken fillets
- Place the 4 chicken fillets into a snug fitting oven dish, you don't want a lot of excess space around the chicken as you don't want the juices to evaporate as these are the base for your cream sauce.
- Place the chicken in the preheated oven for roughly 30 mins or until the skin is crisp and golden and the chicken is cooked through.
- Once the chicken is cooked place it on a plate to rest. Pour the juices from the roasting pan into a saucepan and bring to a boil, pour in the cream and turn the heat down, add in the pesto, season with salt and pepper and allow to cook on a very low heat for a few minutes until the sauce has reduced down slightly and thickened.
- Spoon some of the thickened cream sauce onto a plate and place a chicken fillet on top.
- Serve with some baby roast potatoes and asparagus or some green salad and crusty bread.
Hazelnut and Coolea Pesto
- Place all of the ingredients with a tiny drop of olive oil into a blender and blend until nicely combined.
- Check the seasoning and add a little more salt if needed.
- Drizzle in extra olive oil until you get the consistency you want, you don't want it to be too stiff or too smooth.
- Pour into a sterilised jar and store in the fridge.
