A nice dinner piece. Prepare the casserole dish with all the ingredients, cover and leave in the fridge till you need to cook it. Oven time is 50 minutes.
Chicken Breasts
4 chicken breasts – create a hole for stuffing by sticking a sharp knife through the chicken breast
1 can mixed mushrooms
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp butter
4 cloves garlic
4 frozen artichoke hearts, thawed and chopped
6 red and yellow bell pepper strips, chargrilled and in oil
handful of pine nuts
salt
pepper
thyme
white wine
grated parmesan
grated mozzarella
dijon mustard
Rice
1 cup basmati rice
2 cups water
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1. Heat a spoon of butter in large pan – add mushrooms, artichoke hearts and onions. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme. Cook till onions are yellowed.
2. Add bell pepper strips (with a bit of the bell pepper oil), garlic and pine nuts.
3. Keep cooking till pine nuts and garlic turn golden. Add more salt, pepper and thyme.
4. Splash with white wine to deglaze and cook 2 minutes for wine to evaporate.
5. Leave to cool – Preheat oven to 170°C.
6. Boil water for rice (if basmati, 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water) – add a little butter and salt to pot when water is boiling then add rice.
7. Adjust heat to very low and cover. Leave rice to cook for 30 minutes.
8. Take half of cooled mushroom artichoke mixture and add parmesan and mozzarella. Place in food processor and chop up – do not leave too long or it will become a paste.
9. Stuff chicken breasts with mixture from the food processor and place in oven dish.
10. Spread dijon mustard on each chicken breast with a knife or a spatula.
11. Spoon the rest of the mushroom artichoke mixture around the chicken breasts.
12. Sprinkle with parmesan and mozzarella and cover with foil.
13. Cover and place in oven for 30 minutes.
14. Allow cooked rice to cool.
15. After chicken breasts have cooked for 30 minutes, remove foil and allow to cook for 20 minutes uncovered.
16. 10 minutes before the chicken is done, place walnuts and rice in the same pan as the mushroom mixture (with half a spoon of butter) and sprinkle in a spoon of cinnamon.
17. Mix around until both the rice and the chicken are done! Serve and enjoy!
