This is a lovely recipe for late summer dining or even for a picnic. It is very cheap to produce but looks very impressive on the plate. Boning a chicken is very easy to do but you do need a sharp knife. Here I have served it as a main course with Gnocchi alla Romana and a salad but you could also serve it as a starter. Don’t throw the bones away, roast them and then boil them for an hour or two with carrots, onions, tomato purée and herbs then reduce it to make a lovely sauce. I have used this many times for buffets, too. This can also be made in advance and frozen before cooking.
Ingredients
- 1 x 1.75k chicken
- Finely chopped garlic and shallot
- 100 g fresh white breadcrumbs
- 50 g butter
- 50 g grated parmesan
- Bunch parsley and basil
- Thyme
- 1 egg yolk
- 4 – 6 slices of salami
- Olive oil
Method
Lay the chicken out on the board breast side down and using a very sharp knife, take off the flesh by running the knife along the whole of the carcase moving from one side to the other. Be careful not to pierce the skin.
• Melt the butter and fry off the shallot and garlic until soft and transparent.
• Mix the bread, parsley, basil and thyme together in a food processor until it becomes fine crumbs. Add the shallot and melted butter together with the olive oil and parmesan. Season
• Add the chopped ham and egg yolk.
• Take the boned chicken and place on the slices of salami followed by the stuffing.
• Close the chicken and sew up the seam.
• Cook at 180 degrees for about 1 hour or so.
