This is so easy, but so delicious. There’s blue cheese in the sauce too, along with red onion, parsley and white wine.

This recipe accompanies this column.

Ingredients

(Photo: Tony Jackman)

For the sauce:

1 medium red onion, chopped quite finely

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 Tbsp butter

A handful of chopped parsley

1 glass of dry white wine

200 ml cream

50 g more blue cheese, crumbled, for the sauce

Salt and black pepper to taste

For the chicken:

4 chicken breasts

50 g blue cheese, crumbled, for stuffing the chicken

6 Tbsp fine breadcrumbs

1 egg

6 Tbsp seasoned flour

Salt and pepper

For frying the crumbed chicken:

1 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp olive oil

Method

(Photo: Louis Pieterse)

Cut the breasts almost through to the middle so that there is a “hinge”, as it were, at the centre. Fold the two sides out and splay them on a clean surface. Place cling film over and use your palms to flatten and stretch the breast flesh a little. Be careful not to break the flesh. Season both sides of the butterflied breasts. 

Put the flour and breadcrumbs into two separate bowls or bakkies. Put the egg into a third and beat it with a fork.

Spoon crumbled blue cheese into the middle of each of the four breasts evenly. Fold over neatly and pressed the open edges of the chicken meat together. 

Melt 2 Tbsp butter in a frying pan and sauté the onion on a low heat until softened. No need to caramelise them. Add the garlic and white wine, turn up the heat to moderate, and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Add the cream and crumbled blue cheese, turn the heat to a gentle simmer, and cook gently while stirring until the blue cheese melts and the creamy sauce thickens. Season with a little salt and pepper and stir in the finely chopped parsley right at the end.

Dip each chicken breast first in the seasoned flour, then in egg wash, and then in breadcrumbs.

Fry the crumbed chicken breasts on a moderate heat in the heated butter and olive oil, turning, until done and golden brown and all sides. It should take around 15 minutes all told, on a firm but gentle heat; just enough heat for there to be a gentle bubble in the fats.

Serve with the sauce napped alongside the chicken. I accompanied it with creamed leeks, but there are many vegetable sides which would suit it well. DM/TGIFood

To enquire about Tony Jackman’s book, foodSTUFF (Human & Rousseau) please email him at [email protected]

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