Mushroom stuffed chicken

Sometimes economy is about using what you've got.

Our freezer is stuffed to the point of tupperwares falling out every time you open the door, terrifying the cat and bruising my toes, so we're working through what we've got rather than shopping for any more.  We decided on chicken last night (mostly because it was at the front) and the veg box was due so I got the chicken out to defrost and waited for the veg box to arrive and speak to me.  It turned out to French beans and mushrooms, so I settled on a recipe I haven't cooked for ages - stuffed chicken with mushrooms.

Like I say, we had chicken in the freezer, mushrooms and beans in the veg box and there's still white wine in the rack from our trip to France in December, so all I had to buy to make this up was a packet of pancetta.  Streaky bacon (or even regular bacon) would have done just as well.

First of all, make the stuffing.  My pack of pancetta contained 10 slices, which meant 4 for each of the chicken wraps, one for the stuffing and one to eat straight out of the packet - cook's perks!

Cut up your slice of pancetta and fry in a mixture of oil and butter with a couple of finely sliced up mushrooms.

When they've got some colour, take them off the heat and prepare the chicken wraps. For some reason I'd frozen two skinless, boneless chicken thighs along with one breast in a freezer bag.  Either works just as well for this, using two thighs or one breast per wrap.  The thighs were a bit easier as they are already a flattish, thinnish piece of meat, but the breast needed a bitof encouragement - just open it up, put it in a freezer bag and bash it with a rolling pin for a bit to make it flattish and thinnish.

Then lay out four strips of pancetta, lay the chicken on top and spoon the stuffing on top.

Wrap it all up to make a nice neat parcel.  Use wooden toothpicks to hold it all together if you want to - the wraps will hold together without them, but you might find some bacon ends coming loose while it poaches.

Now return the frying pan to a high-ish heat and fry your chicken wraps for a few minutes on each side to brown the bacon.  Then add a glass of white wine and 300ml veg stock to the pan, bring to the boil, then turn down low.  The chicken will take about 25 minutes to poach all the way through.  Turn once half way through the cooking time.

You might want to add some flavour to the cooking liquor - I used salt, pepper and a few shavings of parmesan (as I had some in the fridge), but I felt it could have used some herbs too - maybe tarragon.  Chuck some chopped mushrooms into the cooking liquor too, if you feel like it.

Get some green veg going while the chicken cooks, so that it'll all be ready at the same time - I steamed my beans for ten minutes.  Do you like my steamer?  I have a metal colander which fits perfectly into my saucepan so I've never seen the need to buy one!

We're not eating much in the way of carbs at the moment but this would be nice with boiled new potatoes if you want.

Taste Verdict

You know that feeling you get when you dig out an album you haven't listened to for absolutely ages, play it and suddenly remember how much you used to love it?  I felt like that.  I need to resurrect old recipes more often.

Financial Verdict

Using up stock, except for £2.69 worth of pancetta.  Even if we weren't trying to run the freezer down, this wouldn't have been a fortune...  and pancetta was an indulgence, a few slices of ordinary bacon would have done the trick.

The Skinny
Make the stuffing my frying two finely chopped mushrooms and one chopped up slice of pancetta in butter and oil

Construct the chicken wraps by laying out pancetta, chicken on top, stuffing on top of the chicken and roll it up.  Use toothpicks to hold it all together

Fry the wraps on both sides

Add wine, stock, seasoning and herbs to the pan

Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down low and poach for 25 minutes

Add another couple of chopped up mushrooms to the sauce

Serve with green veg (and maybe new potatoes if you want)

WeightWatchers ProPoints
7 per serving, assuming no potatoes