chicken ballotine

tried a chicken ballotine the last few days.

when we were in cornwall recently, we had a really good mother’s day lunch at gurnard’s head on 10.5.2015 & the chicken ballotine was excellent. ^^

i googled for the recipe & found a really pretty chicken ballotine at whereismyspoon.com.

chicken ballotine

in my first attempt, i put too much filling & it was not easy to roll & make it hold tight, especially when cutting.

chicken balotine

anyway it was easy enough to make (i used chicken breast instead of thigh)-

butterfly a chicken breast (i cut from whole fresh chicken & remove skin)

cover with a large cling film (later used to wrap & steam the chicken) & pound & flatten (i use a metal soup ladle…can use rolling pin)

season with 2 teaspoon fish sauce

i added white pepper, paprika, parsley flakes

chicken balotine

for the fillings, i –

slightly browned 2 streaky bacons on non stick pan on low fire

fried 1/2 cut onions in butter to soften

then add a bunch of spinach

chicken ballotine

i laid the bacon strips first, throw on some cheddar cheese shreds, then added the onions & spinach.

i rolled tightly in the cling film & twisted the ends to tighten.

then placed in a metal dish to steam for 15minutes.

#2 chicken ballotine

must say the taste was really quite good, steamed meat was very tender not tough or overcooked, & the sweet onions & spinach & not overly strong flavours of the bacon was a great enhancement. 🙂

chicken ballotine

can certainly improved on the looks. this one had too much fillings.

chicken ballotine

fillings were reduced & looked better.

chicken ballotine

i did not blend the fillings this time. may try that next time or just chopped up the bacon & fry lightly.

c.h.e.f andy