Dish Of The Month: ‘Posh’ But Simple, Chicken And Parma Ham

Published on: 15 Jul, 2018
Updated on: 16 Jul, 2018

by Hugh Coakley

This is the simplest dish which really can be prepared in less than 20 minutes. Not only simple, you can also add versatility as one of its virtues.

Chicken in Parma ham, simple, very tasty and presentable.

Whether a little bit posh and upmarket with chicken breast wrapped Parma ham or just for the family with bacon criss-crossed over chicken and pesto, it is the combination of chicken and cooked meats that provides the magic.

Ham or bacon, the blend of flavours with the chicken is a sure-fired winner.

We first came across it when on holiday with some of our extended family, all taking turns cooking. Our niece, Martha, had had it in a restaurant before and loved it, so she tried it out on us.

Half an hour later, she served up this beautiful meal for 15. We were impressed and have cooked it regularly since then.

For the posh version (for four people):

4 small chicken breasts

4 teaspoons of green (basil) pesto

8 slices of Parma ham

500g new potatoes

20 spears of asparagus

100g green beans

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

Salted butter

Cut a slit in each of the chicken breasts and stuff with a teaspoon of pesto. Wrap with the Parma ham and place it in a lightly greased covered dish.

Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes at 180 degrees C. Uncover it for the last 10 minutes.

Wash and then boil the new potatoes for about 10 minutes until soft.

Cut off the ends of the beans and fry them in butter with the garlic for about 8 minutes

Boil the asparagus for 3 minutes.

Serve up immediately, drizzling the juice from the pesto on the chicken and dotting butter over the potatoes and asparagus.

This is an easy enough dish to use as a regular family meal. To make it a bit cheaper, you can use chicken thighs and bacon – I don’t think that the Parma ham gives more flavour than bacon but it possibly looks better – and other vegetables or salad.

Coat the chicken with pesto rather than stuffing it. You can wrap bacon around each chicken piece or alternatively, criss-cross the bacon over the pesto coated chicken and bake as above.

As simple as it gets.

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