A delicious and creamy chicken dish that will transport you to Italy’s Lombardy region where it’s a specialty.
Mascarpone is a specialty cheese of the Lombardy region and it creates a wonderfully delicate creamy sauce for this chicken dish. If you can’t find it then you could use cream cheese instead, it just may alter the texture of the sauce slightly. Farro is a type of grain with a nutty flavour - we have mixed it together with a blend of sun dried tomatoes, marjoram and garlic to serve as an accompaniment to the chicken and to help soak up the sauce. It would make a lovely dish to serve at a dinner party as you can prepare most elements ahead of time and just fry off the chicken and warm the sauce at the last minute. For more chicken recipes step this way.
Method
- Mix the mascarpone with salt, pepper, thyme and a tbsp of the lemon juice.
- Lift the skin of the chicken breast, keeping it attached to the breast at oneside but leaving a cavity. Either using a piping bag or spoon, put the mascarpone mix under the skin and chill the remaining mixture in the fridge.
- Heat 1tbsp of the olive oil in an oven-proof pan and fry the chicken, skin side down for two minutes, until the skin browns, flip the chicken over and then bake in the oven at 200C/Gas 6 for 10 -15 mins.
- Bring 150ml water to the boil, add 1/2tsp salt and the faro. Put the lid on, turn the heat down low and cook. Once the water has all been absorbed, dress the farro with the remaining lemon juice, the sun-dried tomato pieces, 2tbsp olive oil and the marjoram.
- In a frying pan heat 1tbsp olive oil and fry the sliced garlic for 1 min followed by the green leaves, fry gently until the leaves begin to wilt. Add a splash of water to steam the greens and add a pinch of salt. Mix the greens into the farro and herbs.
- Take the chicken out of the oven and allow to rest. Then cut the breasts into 3 pieces
- Warm the remaining mascarpone in the roasting pan to make the sauce.
- Spoon the farro salad onto the plate and arrange the pieces of chicken on top. Pour the mascarpone sauce around the chicken and serve.
Ingredients
- 100g mascarpone
- salt and pepper
- a sprig of fresh thyme
- 2 lemons, juiced
- 2 chicken breasts, skin on
- 75ml olive oil
- 100g Farro
- 100g sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
- a sprig of marjoram, leaves picked
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
- 200g green leaves like Cavolo Nero, kale or sweetheart cabbage
Top Tip for making Mascarpone stuffed chicken
If you can’t find faro, simply sub in brown rice.
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