Chicken-pesto-rolls

Chicken and pesto for a festive dinner

Ingredients (for about 4 servings):

2 packets (900 grams) frozen boneless chicken, either breasts or boneless legs

wooden toothpicks

5 tablespoons pesto

1 cup whole wheat flour

5 tablespoons olive oil

3 big, red onions

1 cup white whine

2 cups chicken or beef stock (or water, if you don’t have any stock available)

Method:

For this recipe you can use either commercial or homemade pesto. Please check out my recipe at www.mediterraneancooking.in/pasta/cashew-nut-pesto-.

When you buy the frozen chicken, please verify the manufacturing date and pay attention, that the packing is not damaged or ice crystals bloom all over the meat. A layer of ice crystals around frozen meat indicates it has thawed during one of the frequent power cuts and then been refrozen.

Start with preparing the meat. If you have boneless legs, cut away all sinewy parts. If you have chicken breasts, carefully slice each breast into 2 big, thin peaces. Although rolls made from breasts look nicer, the meat from the legs tastes better. Spread pesto thinly over each piece of meat. Then roll them up with the pesto facing inside and secure them with toothpicks. Put your flour in a plate and turn the rolls in the flour, so all sides are well coated.

Heat the olive oil in a big pan and fry your rolls until they have a lovely, golden color all over. While the rolls are frying, peel your onions and chop them as finely as possible. I use a mini-blender for this purpose. Take your rolls out of the pan and keep them aside. Bronze your onions in the pan until they start to brown. Then add the white wine and the stock, season according to your taste with salt and freshly grated pepper.

When I write according to your taste, please take it literally and really taste your dish. I normally use stock for this dish from cooking beef in my pressure cooker. This leaves me with about 1 liter of stock which can be kept for weeks in the fridge. You can also use stock made from cubes or from extract, preferably without monosodium glutamate. If you don’t have stock available, simply use water.

Let the sauce boil for about 2 minutes while stirring well, then add your chicken rolls and keep on simmering on low heat for 15 minutes. Your rolls are now ready to be served. Together with steamed rice, boiled potatoes or bread and a nice salad or some other vegetables, you have a beautiful dinner fit also for demanding guests.

A short description of the other ingredients used in this recipe: