Welcome back. Today's blog post is a very special one. This is the chicken dish I made Chef Gordon Ramsey that won me the crown of Culinary Genius! The new show is on ITV here in the U.K.. I was chosen to be a contestant after all the hype with the Purple Door Supper Club. To say I was extremely flattered is an understatement. I can now say I've fed "Super Chef". He said some amazing things to me on and off camera. He is truly an amazing person, both personally and professtionally. Hope you enjoy this magnificent, delicious Portuguese inspired dish. Here, I have recreated it and served it with rice. For presentation purposes, I have an "airline chicken breast", also known as a "frenched breast". It is a boneless chicken breast with the skin on and the first wing joint still attached. This is completely up to you. A boneless/ skinless breast is also fine, but won't be as flavourful. Enjoy. xoxo
Butterflied Chicken Breast with a Chouriço and Black Bean Stuffing
Serves 4
4 Chicken breasts, boneless, butterflied and preferably with skin on.
800 g. Canned ready to eat black beans (strain liquid from one can only)
100 ml. Extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 Fresh chouriço* (in Spanish it is called chorizo)
1 White onion finely diced
3 Bay leaves
4 Cloves of garlic finely chopped
2 tsps. Sweet paprika (pimenton)
2 tbls. Concentrated tomato paste
50 g. Fresh Parsley finely chopped
500 ml. Chicken stock, divided
250 ml. White wine, divided
Salt and Pepper to taste
1. Liberally salt chicken breasts on both sides. Add half the olive oil to a large frying pan on high heat. Add chicken breast, skin side down, and fry uncovered for 3 minutes.
2. Turn chicken breasts over and add half the chicken stock and half the white wine, cover and turn heat down to low.
Braise covered for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile make the bean stuffing. Add remaining olive oil to a saucepan on high.
4. Add onions, garlic, and bayleaf. Stirrring frequently.
5. Add chouriço and fry on high heat for approximately 2 mins. *If you can't find fresh chouriço, you can use a tradtional cured one. Just remove casing and finely chop.
6. Stir in tomato paste letting it gently fry while stirring, add beans to chouriço and onion mix. the remaining white wine and chicken stock.
7. Cook on medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
8. Check on the chicken breasts. They should be perfectly cooked. Remove from heat, let rest 5 mins. in the covered frying pan.
9. Add 2/3 of fresh parsley to beans, stir and remove from heat. Taste. Add salt and pepper to taste. Reserve 1/3 of parsley for garnish.
10. Plate chicken breasts. Open the breast where it was sliced and fill generously with bean and chouriço stuffing. Devour :)