Chicken Kiev
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts, skinned
- salt and pepper
- Garlic Butter
- 100g (4ozs) butter, softened
- 2-4 cloves of garlic, crushed or finely grated
- 1 heaped tablespoon chopped herbs, I like a mixture of parsley, chives and tarragon
- finely grated zest and the juice of half a lemon
- 50g flour
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 6 tablespoon approx white breadcrumbs
- sunflower oil for frying
Method
- First prepare the chicken breasts.
- Lay them on a chopping board.
- With a sharp knife slit the chicken breast down the long side and open out.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Next make the garlic butter.
- In a bowl, cream the butter, add the garlic, herbs and the zest and juice of the lemon.
- Spread the garlic butter out onto the opened chicken breasts leaving a margin of 1cm (1/4 inch) all the way round with no butter.
- Fold the chicken breast back over to resemble their original shape.
- Toss each chicken breast in the flour, then into a bowl with the beaten egg, making sure the egg completely covers all parts of the chicken, and then into the breadcrumbs, again making sure to coat the chicken in crumbs.
- Heat a deep fry to 160ºC/325ºF, or place about 4 tablespoons of oil and 25g (1oz) butter in a shallow frying pan. If you are deep-frying the chicken breasts, just drop them into the oil gently and cook for about 10-12 minutes until they are golden brown all over and cooked through. If you are not deep frying them just heat a frying pan with the 4 tablespoons oil and 25g (1oz) of butter and place the chicken breasts in a single layer, fry until golden and cooked all the way through; I usually start cooking them until golden on a frying pan and then transfer them to a moderate oven to cook for another 8 minutes until cooked through.
- Serve with chips if you wish and a green salad.