Grilled prosciutto chicken with soft polenta and roast mushroom walnut salad

The key to juicy succulent chicken is quick cooking. This flavoursome recipe incorporates wonderful flavours of rosemary, orange and fresh oregano with the crispiness of salted prosciutto.

The mushroom salad has a great crunch and smothered in a delicious verjuice dressing. Verjuice is made from the juice from the first press of grapes and is available in most supermarkets in the vinegar isle. Verjuice has the acidity of vinegar with a touch of sweetness and is great vinegar or lemon juice substitute.

Chicken

Ingredients

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts about 200g – 250g each butterflied
8 slices prosciutto
½ cup Olive Oil
1 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves picked and chopped
1 tbsp fresh oregano leaves chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
zest from 1 orange
salt and pepper

Instructions

Slice the chicken breasts in half lengthways and place onto your chopping board or a flat surface covered with plastic wrap. Place another layer of plastic wrap onto the chicken and with a meat mallot lightly pound the chicken until flattened and about 1 cm in thickness. Place the breasts into a bowl and add in the olive oil, chopped rosemary and oregano, crushed garlic, salt and pepper. With your hands, combine the chicken with the herbs and add in the orange zest and season until well covered. Take a piece of prosciutto and using a toothpick fasten the prosciutto to the chicken breast. Lay the chicken breasts onto a tray and cover with plastic wrap. Sit in the fridge for 20 minutes. Turn on the grill in your oven and grill the chicken until it is cooked thoroughly and the prosciutto is golden. You can also barbeque the chicken on both sides for 2 minutes using a heavy pan or brick wrapped with foil to hold down the chicken, this will ensure that the prosciutto cooks onto the chicken.

Roast mushroom and Walnut salad

Ingredients

4 large field mushrooms, trimmed and cleaned

15ml olive oil
30g butter
1 brown onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp fresh oregano
3 sage leaves, chopped
1 tbsp parsley chopped
Salt and pepper
¼ tsp verjuice
¼ cup olive oil extra
¼ cup walnuts, broken
2 cups handful of rocket
2 tbsp Verjuice
2 tbsp Olive oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200°C

Place the field mushrooms onto a greased baking tray. Heat the oil and butter in a frypan over medium heat, add in the onions and garlic and herbs and sauté until the onions have softened. Remove this from the heat and add in the parsley and verjuice, season with salt and pepper and top each mushroom with a little of the mix. Bake for 20 minutes. Combine the walnuts with the rocket and dress with the combined verjuice and olive oil.

Soft polenta

Polenta is readily available from the supermarket and is great gluten free alternative to pasta as it is made from crushed corn. Polenta loves flavour, so season it well or it will be quite bland. You can also add in fresh chopped herbs, or other tasty cheeses. Usually the rule is 1 cup of polenta to 1 lt of liquid and it is important to whisk the polenta into the boiling liquid so that no lumps form, then change to a wooden spoon to stir until smooth, creamy and the grains have softened.

Ingredients

50g unsalted butter
1 cup milk or half cream and half milk can be substituted for creamier
options
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup yellow or white polenta/cornmeal
Freshly ground pepper and salt to taste
½ cup grated Parmesan or your favourite cheese

Instructions

Heat the butter, water and milk in a large saucepan and bring to the boil over a high heat. Slowly add the polenta stirring constantly, lower the heat to a simmer and stir until thick and creamy, approximately 15 – 20 mins. Off the heat stir in the salt, pepper and cheese. Serve straight away.