Chicken Ballotine with sundried tomatoes, basil and feta.

Method

• step 1

  Preheat the oven to 180'C/Gas mark 4. Pop a pan on the hob with some boiling water on a simmer. Finely chop the basil and sun-dried tomatoes and crumble the feta. Add them all to a bowl and mix together. season well with pepper and set aside to let the flavours mingle for 5 minutes.

• step 2

  Meanwhile lay the 4 of the bacon rashers on some cling film on a red board or a separate board from the chopping board you used for the stuffing and place the boned and skinless chicken on it open so you can stuff it. Now grab a spoon an place enough of the feta mixture on the chicken that you can still roll it without it bursting out. Now bringing the bacon and the cling with the chicken roll it up as tight as you can being careful not to get the cling inside the roll. then holding the ends of the cling and start rolling it across the board using the ends of the cling so that its tight and then tie them together. do the same for the second leg.

• step 3

  Carefully place the ballontines into the pan of simmering water and turn up the heat to a medium high and place a lid on and leave to cook for 20 minutes. Mean while have a frying pan ready on the stove with the butter and oil. about 3 minutes before the chicken comes out of the water turn the frying pan onto a high heat and let the butter melt. When the 15 minutes are up carefully take the chicken out of the water and cut the cling film off then immediately pop them in the frying pan and roll them in the hot butter and oil and baste them as you go for 5 minutes then pop them in the oven for the last 15 minutes to finish off.

• step 4

  Once they come out probe them they should be at 75'C or above. Then cut them into slices and serve them with anything you like.