Dan’s Chicken Balmoral

Prep time: 30 mins

Cooking time: 1.5 hours

Serves: 2

ingredients

For the Chicken:

• 1 x Simon Howie Classic Black Pudding 240g or Wee Black Pudding 200g
• 2 x Chicken Fillets
• 1 x Simon Howie Premium Dry Cure Streaky Bacon
• Fresh tarragon leaves
• Salt seasoning

For the Fondant Potatoes:

• 1 x Large potato
• 1 x Chicken stockpot or cube
• 3 x Garlic cloves, crushed
• Generous pinch of Thyme
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter

For the Carrot Puree:

• 2 x large carrots
• 1 x juice/zest of orange
• 2 tbsp creme fresh
• Pinch of salt & pepper

Method

To Make the Carrot Puree

• Peel and slice the carrots and cook until soft. Strain and put the carrot pieces into ice water to stop them from cooking and to preserve their colour. When cold, drain again and put into a food mixer or a bowl with a hand blender with a little creme fraiche and orange juice. Blend to make the puree adding a little salt and pepper to taste. If the consistency is too thick, add a little more creme fraiche. Heat thoroughly before serving.

To Make the Chicken Balmoral

• Lay the chicken breast flat and carefully cut it to open the chicken breast out so that it is half as thick as it was. Take care when cutting to not cut all the way through as the idea is to have a single piece of chicken. Open the chicken, cover with cling film and with a rolling pin or meat mallet, flatten the chicken further, trying to make a rectangle shape as you go.
• Lay a fresh piece of cling film onto a flat surface and place the streaky bacon going away from you with each piece overlapping slightly to make a sheet of bacon just wider than the chicken. Place the flattened chicken onto the bacon nearest so you the join in the two parts going left to right. There should be plenty more bacon to be seen above the chicken.
• Lightly season the chicken with a little salt, you don’t need much as there is plenty in the bacon. Place plenty of the tarragon leaves onto the chicken. Discard the stalks. Then place slices of black pudding onto the chicken. You could also cut a baton too if you like.
• Use the clingfilm to help wrap the bacon around the chicken as you tightly roll it all up together.
• If cooking sous-vide, heat the water to 65ºC. The displacement bag method works well to preserve the shape of the meat. Cook for 90 minutes. After coming from the water bath, add all the cooking juices to the stock in which the fondant potatoes are cooking. Dry and place into a medium-hot frying pan to crisp the bacon. Some strategically placed cocktail sticks will help retain the shape while you do this.
• If cooking in the oven, preheat to 180ºC. Carefully remove the clingfilm and secure the meat with a few cocktail sticks. Cook for around 60 minutes, making sure it is cooked through before serving. You may need to cover with foil if the bacon starts to colour too much.
• When cooked, allow the meat a few minutes resting time before slicing to serve.

To Make the Fondant Potatoes

• Peel the potatoes and using a small cookie cutter cut the potato to form cylinders that are around 3cm in width and height. With a sharp knife, carefully cut the edge of the cylinder ends to have a small bevel. If you don’t have a cookie-cutter, you can shape the potato with a knife by eye. Keep the unused potato to make some mash, for example.
• Prepare your chicken stock and warm it, if necessary.
• Put a heavy-based pan on medium heat and when hot, add some sunflower oil (or similar). End first, place your potato cylinder into the pan to colour to a golden brown. Make sure to do the side and when the last surface to colour is the end, add a knob of butter, the garlic cloves and thyme to the pan. With the end golden, add the chicken stock to the pan making the level of the stock come about halfway up the potato. Cover and cook on medium-low heat for a further 25 minutes or until soft. Add any cooking juices from the meat as you go.
• When the potatoes are cooked, put them to one side. Reserve the liquid to make a sauce.

To Make the Sauce

• The cooking juices from the potato should taste good and can be thickened to make a sauce. Either use a little agar agar, mix some cornflour in cold water and add to the stock or add a little roux. The choice is yours and each is quite easy. Make sure that the sauce simmers for a couple of minutes whichever method you use. It should be thickened with a nice gloss.

For the Vegetables

• Complete Dans Chicken Balmoral diSH with your favourite seasonal vegetables.  He’s opted for roasted leek and cauliflower with the outer layers removed.  Cook for approx 30 mins at 180 degrees.  Once roasted, simply cut straight down the centre.

Finally…

• Plate the Chicken Balmoral and components.  ENJOY immediately!