Wild Garlic Chicken, Healthier Mushroom Sauce, Crispy Kale. Wild garlic stuffed ballotine of chicken served simply with a healthier mushroom sauce made with quark- a naturally fat free soft cheese- although if you’re feeling indulgent then just use double cream. If you’re feeling extra healthy, miss out the double cream entirely. Freezing the garlic butter means that when you come to cook it, it will take longer to melt and you are less likely to have it all pour out in the baking dish before the chicken is cooked through. The crispy kale is one of my favourites; delicious on its own as a snack, the crunchy texture works well against the soft chicken and sauce here.
If you like the idea of foraging for your own food, wild garlic is the perfect place to start. It grows abundantly in moist ground between the months of March and June; laterally in the season producing edible garlic flowers too. Wild garlic has long, tapered leaves with vibrant green colour and a mild garlic taste. It is akin to the tastes of spring onion, leek and chive with the texture of spinach. Use it like spinach or substitute for herbs. I have simply chopped it here, stirring it through butter to make a extra garlicky flavoured filling but I have also served some raw on the side. Check back here for other ways to use the amazing and free wild garlic!
Wild Garlic tips
When picking wild garlic, look for long and fresh looking leaves with no holes. Try and not pick the leaves that are near the road for obvious reasons and don’t remove the root. Also just take a little at a time, not only does a little go a long way but you want to leave some for others. Make sure to wash thoroughly before use.
If you liked my Wild Garlic Chicken, see my other Chicken Recipes here.
RECIPE
SERVES 2
DIFFICULTY LEVEL Home Cook
Ingredients:
For the Wild Garlic Chicken:
- 2 chicken breasts
- A big bunch of wild garlic
- 80g butter
- 1 garlic clove
- Prosciutto, Parma ham or bacon
- Kale
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
For the Mushroom Sauce:
- 1 pack of chestnut mushrooms
- 1 shallot
- 1 garlic clove
- 250g quark
- 150ml double cream
- 150ml chicken stock
- Salt and pepper
- Butter
Method:
1. Finely chop most of the wild garlic, reserving a few long leaves to garnish. Mix the chopped wild garlic with the butter. Bash the whole garlic clove with a large knife to peel away the skin easily. Grind over a good amount of salt and use a smaller knife to crush the garlic clove into a paste. Add this to the butter too. Use cling film to roll the butter into a log and wrap well in cling film. Freeze for as long as you have, but ideally an hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 200C. Bash the chicken out until you have two flat escalopes and the whole breast is evenly sized. Remove the butter from the cling film and divide in two. Place each stick of butter in the centre of the chicken and wrap the chicken around the butter to enclose it the best you can. Wrap prosciutto slices around each chicken breast- you may need up to three slices per chicken breast, depending on the size. At this point, you could wrap tightly in cling film and place in the fridge to cook later.
3. Place a frying pan on a medium high heat and add a drizzle of olive oil. Allow the oil to heat and then place the unwrapped chicken breasts in the pan. Fry on all sides until the ham has crisped up a little and then put the pan (if ovenproof) -or transfer to a baking dish- in the oven for 20-25 minutes depending on the size of the chicken breasts until cooked through.
4. Whilst the chicken is cooking, make your sauce. Finely chop the shallot and garlic and place in a frying pan with a tiny amount of butter over a medium heat. Sauté for a couple of minutes until softened. Slice the mushrooms thinly. Increase the heat to high and add the mushrooms, frying until soft and golden. The better you fry the mushrooms, the more flavour. Add a couple tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce and stir through. Add the stock and simmer for a couple of minutes before adding the double cream. Simmer until thickened to your liking and then turn down the heat and stir through the quark. Due to the fat-free nature of quark it can very easily split so it is best warmed through over a low heat. Season generously with lots of pepper and some salt.
5. Towards the last 10 minutes of the chicken cooking, toss a couple of big handfuls of kale with a tiny drizzle of olive oil or use the spray oil. Place in a large oven dish (if you overcrowd the kale it won’t crisp up) and bake for 8-10 minutes until crispy.
6. Remove the Wild Garlic Chicken and rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve on top of the mushroom sauce and top with crispy kale. Roughly chop the remaining raw wild garlic and scatter over. Enjoy!
Tips
- Can easily be made without wild garlic. Add finely chopped baby spinach or herbs such as tarragon or parsley to the butter instead.
- Serve with steamed greens instead of the crispy kale. Broccoli would be nice.
- If you want to know where I picked wild garlic, get in touch on Instagram
Pingback: Kimchi and Wild Garlic Fried Rice - Documenting My Dinner