This is a great way to serve chicken. Thigh fillets are a very economical cut. When stuffed with a little of whatever you fancy, rolled with slices of prosciutto and sliced to reveal their succulent filling, this ordinary cut becomes a little more distinctive.
Rosie
CHICKEN WITH SAGE, CARAMELISED ONION AND PROSCIUTTO SERVED WITH CARAMELISED ONION AND FENNEL SEED RICE PILAF
Serves 10-12
Caramelised onions
900 gm (about 6) red onions, finely sliced
80 mls olive oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 150°C.
Toss all ingredients together and place on an oven tray large enough to accommodate all the onion in one thin-ish layer. Bake, tossing well every 15 minutes for 1 -1.5 hours until the onions are a rich dark colour. This can be made up to a week before hand, kept in the fridge and brought back to room temperature prior to use.
Chicken
2 kg chicken thigh fillets
250 gm prosciutto, finely sliced
2 bunches sage leaves
Caramelised onions
In batches, lay a few pieces of prosciutto on a board then lay one chicken fillet, running lengthways, on top of each slice of prosciutto. Place two or three sage leaves and a teaspoonful of the caramelised onions width ways on the centre of each chicken fillet, reserving the remaining caramelised onions for the rice. Roll the chicken and prosciutto up to form a roll. Repeat until all the chicken is prepared. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Rice
1100 mls chicken stock
80 ml olive oil
1 leek, washed and sliced
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons fennel seeds
Caramelised onions
600 gm long grain rice
½ bunch parsley, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 160°C.
Heat half the olive oil in one or two large frying pans and brown the chicken rolls. Remove from the heat while you prepare the rice.
Place the chicken stock in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.
Heat the remaining olive oil in the same pan in which you have browned the chicken and saute the leeks, garlic and fennel seeds until the leeks are soft but not browned. Add the rice and remaining caramelised onions to the pan and toss well to coat. Pour over the boiling stock. Return as many pieces of chicken as will fit into the pan with the rice without overcrowding, pushing the chicken down into the rice. Cover pan with a tight fitting lid. Place the remaining chicken rolls in a baking dish, cover tightly and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Allow the chicken and rice to simmer on a very low heat for 30 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven and keep warm. Remove the lid from the chicken and rice, turn off the heat and cover the pan with a clean tea towel. Allow to rest for 10 minutes.
To Serve
Remove the chicken from the rice and baking dish and cut all the rolls into three or four slices.
Toss the rice with the chopped parsley and either serve on individual plates or on one large serving dish topped with the chicken roll slices. Garnish with extra sage leaves.
Serve with a simple, crisp green salad.