Chicken kievs
The perfect kiev is a thing of beauty – golden and crisp on the outside, giving way to juicy, tender meat, then molten garlic butter that pools out from the middle.
1 HOUR 15 MINUTES + SALTING | SERVES 4 | EASY
skinless chicken breasts 4 large flaky sea salt 2 tbsp
unsalted butter 150g, softened
garlic 8 cloves, crushed
flat-leaf parsley a small bunch, finely chopped
lemon 1, a squeeze of juice, plus wedges to serve
plain flour 75g
eggs 3, beaten
panko breadcrumbs 150g
smoked paprika 1 tsp
garlic granules 1 tsp
sunflower oil for frying
oven chips to serve
rocket salad to serve
Put the chicken in a container, sprinkle over the flaky sea salt, cover and leave in the fridge for 6 hours. This will help the seasoning penetrate the meat.
Remove the breasts from the container, then cut away the small fillet from the bottom of each and set side. Use a small, sharp knife to make an incision in the side of each breast, at the thickest part, then wiggle the knife to create a large pocket through the middle of the breast.
3 Beat together the butter, garlic, parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice in a small bowl with a little seasoning. Divide the garlic butter between the four chicken breasts, stuffing it into the pockets. Use the small fillets you removed to plug the holes in each breast and keep the garlic butter inside.
4 Put the flour and beaten egg into separate shallow bowls, and season the flour well. Tip the breadcrumbs into another, then stir through the paprika and garlic granules.
5 Working with one chicken breast at a time, gently dredge through the flour, shake off any excess, then turn it in the egg, and finally roll in the breadcrumbs. Pat on as much of the crumb mixture as you can to create a really thick coating.
6 Fill a large frying pan with 2cm of oil and heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Heat the oil to 180C or until a cube of bread browns in 30 seconds. Fry the kievs, in batches if necessary, for 3 minutes on each side until deep golden. Drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with flaky sea salt, then put on a large baking tray. Bake in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
7 Serve the kievs with oven chips, rocket salad and lemon wedges for squeezing over.
PER SERVING 801 kcals | fat 47.4G saturates 21.8G | carbs 42.8G | sugars 1.4G fibre 3.2G | protein 49.2G | salt 8.3G