Chicken Parma Pesto - Sunday Scoffing!

*** VEGETARIANS LOOK AWAY NOW, THERE ARE PICTURES OF RAW CHICKEN ***

This is something I rustled up a few weeks ago and it was rather tasty and it felt like I had done some 'proper' cooking!  This is a rather picture heavy post, just sayin'...  

Ingredients: 

• Chicken Breasts (one per person)
• Pesto (red or green)
• Mascarpone
• Parma Ham (optional)
• Olive Oil
• Bread or Breadcrumbs
• Pine nuts (optional)
• Parmesan (optional)
• Veg - Carrots, Tomatoes, Broccoli and Garlic
• Salad Potatoes
• Marg or butter
• Parsely
• Seasonings i.e. salt and pepper
• Oven pre-heated to 200 degrees or 180 degrees if it is a fan oven.

First get a chicken breast per person.  I always wash my chicken before using it, so just run it for a few seconds under the tap.  I never used to be able to touch chicken without wearing gloves but I can now. Trim off any areas of visible fat. 

Make a slice in the chicken breast but it is important not to slice all the way through. 

Take about a tablespoon of pesto and a tablespoon of mascarpone cheese per chicken breast, and mix them together in a small bowl.  Once mixed together, put a tablespoon or so into the slit you made in the chicken breast.  

I then wrapped the chicken breasts in Parma Ham (I ran out so only did two out of three).  I placed them in an oven worthy dish and poured over a good glug of olive oil.  

Onto the breadcrumbs...

I totllay cheated and used my food processor to blitz some bread that I had left out overnight.  I toasted some pine nuts and blitzed them in with the breadcrumbs, along with some parmesan, salt and pepper.

  

I then poured the breadcrumbs over the top of my chicken breasts. I then put these into the oven for 20 minutes at 180 degrees, I then popped some more pine nuts over the top and put back in the oven for a further three minutes, or until the chicken and the pine nuts are golden.

Onto the veg...

I parboiled some carrots and then popped them in an ovenproof dish, threw some oil and brown sugar over the top and popped them in the oven too. 

Along with some garlic cloves and cherry tomatoes, tossed in some salt, pepper and oil.

Nom!  The brown sugar caramelises nicely on the carrots. 

Boil some broccoli, another veg I don't really like but it has iron and other such nutrients in it so I persevere.

  

Boil up some salad potatoes, these take a wee while so put these on when you put the chicken on.

Get some butter or marg and mix in some parsley.  You could just do this after you drain the potatoes, it would save you a dish.

Use a masher to lightly crush the potatoes and plate up!

A good plateful of food for a sunday tea and the veggies (almost) make it kinda healthy, yay!!

Let me know if you give it a go,

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx