Stuffed and wrapped mozzarella chicken with sweet potato chips

Gone are the days of dry chicken when you wrap it in pancetta. Not only does it make it look fancy, but it locks in all the moisture, giving a deliciously succulent meat. This one also has the surprise of a tricolour stuffing in the middle, made up of mozerella, sundried tomatoes, and basil which flavours the relatively bland meat really well.

Just like a bistro style meal, this dish can easily do both the casual lunch or the dressed up dinner party, so it’s a good one to have up your sleeve. If you’re not a fan of sweet potato you can use normal potatoes to make the chips, but the sweet works really well with the salty pancetta so I’d recommend it.

Recipe

Serves 4

Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 20 Strips of Parma ham (this may vary depending on the size of your chicken breasts)
• 4 Chicken breasts (as large as possible)
• 1 Ball mozzarella, torn into chunks
• 6 Sundried tomatoes, drained and finely chopped
• 1 handful of basil, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 sweet potatoes

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C.
2. Take 5 parma ham strips and lay them so they’re slightly overlapping on a board.
3. The take a chicken breast and turn it over so it’s smooth side down. Then make a slice, horizontally, into the thickest part of the breast, being careful not to cut all the way through.
4. Take a chunk of mozzarella and stuff it into the chicken. Then take some of the chopped sundried tomatoes and chopped basil and stuff that into the chicken as well.
5. Put the chicken breast, cut side up, onto the strips of parma ham, so that the thin end of the breast is nearest the last strip.
6. Working tail to top wrap the parma ham around the chicken in diagonal strips – ie take the right side of the first strip and wrap it diagonally over the chicken, then do the same with the left strip, and so on with the rest of the parma ham.
7. Once all the strips have been wrapped around the chicken turn the breast over and put onto a lined baking tray. Repeat with all the other chicken breasts.
8. Once all stuffed and wrapped, bake in the over for 20-25 minutes until the parma ham is crisp and the flesh is no longer pink.
9. Now time to make the sweet potato chips. Chop the sweet potatoes into wedges and then put into a roasting tin. Pour over the oil and sprinkle over some salt to season. Then roast these in the oven (at the same temperature as the chicken is fine) for 15-20 minutes until crispy. Turn them over half way through cooking to crisp up all over.
10. Once everything is cooked you can serve it immediately with a nice side salad!

Thanks for reading! Any questions, queries or requests just let me know.

Emma x