CHICKEN BREAST WITH MUSHROOMS, COPPA & PARMESAN

SERVES 8/ PREPARATION 20 MINUTES/ COOKING 30 MINUTES

The original Ray Mcvinnie recipe from issue 71, November 1998, calls for turkey breasts, and of course you can use these, but here I have used Bostocks chicken breast. I have also used Poaka coppa, from happy, sustainable pigs instead of the original prosciutto. ½ cup flour olive oil for frying

1kg skinless chicken breast, sliced obliquely 1cm

thick across the grain

2 tablespoons butter

300g button mushrooms, sliced

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

100g Poaka coppa or prosciutto

2 cups finely grated parmesan 125ml dry white wine

250ml chicken stock chopped parsley, to garnish

Heat the oven to 200℃.

Put the flour on a plate and mix with a little salt and pepper. Heat some oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Coat the chicken slices in the flour and fry until the outside is browned (do not cook through). Arrange the slices in a wide, shallow baking dish in an even layer. Wipe out the frying pan and melt the butter over a medium heat, add the mushrooms, garlic and thyme and fry for about 5 minutes to soften.

Sprinkle the mushrooms over the chicken along with the coppa, nestling them into the cracks a little. Season with ground pepper and if you are using an unsalted chicken stock, season with salt too. (Up to this stage it can be done the day before – just ensure the chicken is cold, then cover and refrigerate. Bring back to room temperature before proceeding with the next steps.)

Sprinkle with half the parmesan, pour over the wine and stock then sprinkle the remaining parmesan evenly over the top. Bake for 25 minutes.

Scatter with parsley before serving and make sure each serve gets some of the cheesy juices. RAY MCVINNIE / JULIE DALZELL