Are you a bit of a fancy pants, like me? Well, Dear Reader, I have the recipe for you. This chicken roulade is stuffed with salty halloumi, crunchy pine nuts and delicious basil and will definitely bring a smile to your face. It’s simple enough to cook during the week after work and also pretty enough to plate up with pride when the in-laws are over.
Ingredients
- 2 free-range chicken breasts (happy birds make for better dinners)
- 6 slices of halloumi
- A small handful of pine nuts
- A small handful of fresh basil leaves
- Salt and pepper
- Dried oregano, parsley and cumin seeds
Method
Start off with your prep, it will make the whole thing easier and prevent you from having a meltdown at 8:30pm when dinner still isn’t done and you lose the will to live.
Get your chopping board, cover it in greaseproof paper, place the chicken breasts on it and place another piece of greaseproof paper over them. Get a rolling pin and beat the breasts until they’re flattened out. This is also highly therapeutic.
Get a dinner plate and sprinkle a good pinch of salt and pepper on there, as well as a teaspoon each of dried oregano, parsley and cumin seeds. Depending on how big your breasts are (*smirk*) you may need more or less, so do adjust accordingly. Get your chicken breasts and flip them over on the plate until they’re seasoned on both sides.
Even unsliced, this dish will impress.
Heat a small frying pan to a medium-high heat and grill off your slices of halloumi until golden brown. There’ no need to add oil to the pan, you’ll lose the crisp crust on the halloumi. Place 3 slices each of the halloumi on the longer side of each chicken breast. In the same pan, toast off your pine nuts, take care to turn them continuously so they don’t scorch, you want them to toast up and to start to release some of their oils and a nutty smell. Remove from the pan and leave to cool, then sprinkle onto the chicken breasts. Get your fresh basil leaves and place them across the breasts, on top of the halloumi. I used about 7 per breast and I didn’t find them overpowering. Once you’ve done this, roll your chicken breasts tightly, long side first and tuck the rolled edge under. You can choose to use toothpicks to pin then if you wish.
Place your chicken roulade in a baking tin and into the oven for 25 minutes on 180. When cooked, cut into one to two inch slices and serve with baby new potatoes and a shaved courgette salad (super easy, shave your courgettes with a vegetable peeler, dress with the juice of half a lemon and plate up).
Congratulate yourself and your fancy pants for making chicken roulade!
I’m making this tonight lady