Gordon Ramsey inspiration

F word+ Food Network+ Gordon Ramsey= happy me. We’ve learned that we have the cable. So I asked my husband to record some TV show that I like (most of them are from food network). He recorded F word for me as I do love the simplicity of Gordon Ramsey’s recipes.

As all of you in a relationship may know (or if you are a man), men do like meat. I don’t think they love something better than meat stuffed meat. Wait!!! They do love something better than meat stuffed meat; they adore meat stuffed meat wrapped in bacon. So when I saw in a F word episode a simple recipe, I had to give it a try.
I out-did myself with this one. I love it, he loved it and it gives tons of leftovers. Although I adapted the original, the essential is there and it is so simple to do!

Chicken legs stuffed with sausage meat and pistachio, wrapped in bacon. (Does that ever sound yummy?)



Chicken

• 6 boned-out chicken legs or thighs (this is the longest part to do- butchering)
• sea salt and pepper
• approximately 24 slices of bacon
• 3 tbsp olive oil

Stuffing

• 350g good-quality pork sausage meat (I did 2 recipes: 1 Italian hot, 1 honey garlic)
• handful of skinned pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
• 1 egg yolk
• 4 thyme sprigs, leaves stripped and chopped
• handful flat parsley, chopped
• half a cup of onion (My addition)
• 1 garlic clove (my addiction… eh… addition)

How to?

If you are trying to reduce your grocery cost like me, you probably buy boned chicken and butcher them yourself (lot of work but meh, where is the fun in cooking otherwise?) You have to pound the meat after so that it is more flat. (Google if you don’t know what I mean) If you don’t care about saving cost, or prefer white meat, use chicken breast.

To make the stuffing, mix the sausage meat with the pistachio nuts, egg yolk, thyme and parsley and season well with salt and pepper.

Open out the chicken legs or thighs, season with pepper and divide the stuffing between them. Roll up to enclose. Lay about four bacon slices on a board, overlapping them slightly. Put one stuffed chicken portion on top and wrap the bacon around to cover completely. Repeat with the rest of the chicken.

Cut six very large pieces of foil. Wrap each chicken parcel tightly in foil, twisting the ends to seal. Roll back and forth to even the shape. Poach the chicken parcels, two or three at a time, in a large pan of boiling water for 25-30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked. Allow to cool in the foil, then refrigerate for 30 minutes (this helps the bacon to ‘set’ around the chicken). Remove the foil and pat dry to remove any excess moisture.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and carefully sauté the chicken parcels until the bacon is brown and crisp on all sides. Transfer to a warm platter and rest in a warm place.

And now…. Enjoy!