Life is too short to Stuff

So I'm feeling a lot better due to a hefty dose of anti-biotics - thanks for asking!  Back to cooking for me and them and tonight's offering was Easy Open-faced Chicken Cordon Bleu - Page 105.  Yet another one with no photo to guide me - boo hiss.  According to Giraffe life is too short to stuff and there isn't much difference between folding and stuffing.  So with that in mind off we go!

I'm not a huge fan of chicken breasts - find them a bit dry - I'm more of a thigh girl, so that probably isn't the best of starts.  You have to bash them out with a rolling pin which is quite theraputic so thats a bonus.  Stress relieved, you then "layer and fold" and shallow fry for 5 mins on each side.  You'd have food poisioning if you only gave them that long - I'd reccomend longer.  Perhaps even searing them in a pan and transferring to the oven to ensure thay are fully cooked through.  Raw chicken = not a good idea.

You are supposed to serve up with a lemon wedge the juices from the pan - but there weren't any (only gooey/crusty cheesey bits) so I opted for stir fried greens & bacon and carrott & butternut squash mash.

It looked odd, tasted good, but I still prefer my juicy thighs so if I were to make it again I'd use the same ingredients and adapt.  Stuff the thighs with the Gruyere cheese and spinach and then wrap in the parma ham to secure before roasting in the oven.  Not Cordon Bleu by any definition, but I think it would work better for me.

Marinate overnight if possible - doh!

I should really read recipies more carefully beforehand as this isn't the first (and will undoubtedly not be the last) time that I get caught out with this. Oh well the Grilled Chicken Tacos with Fresh Orange Salsa - Page 103 - had nearly 2 hours of marinating time.  I'm sure thats overnight in some time zone. 

The marinade called for chipotle chillies and Tesco didn't have them - apparently they have a more gentle smokey flavour.  Will keep an eye out for them for future but for now bog standard red chilli.  As for the salsa it called for an orange seperated into segments.  Now me and segmenting oranges clearly don't go and I now have a fetching Peppa Pig plaster on my middle finger - cut finger & citrus juice & chilli - OUCH!  Even Peppa & George aren't managing to kiss it better.  If only it were as simple as the tap and unwrap of Terry's.  There's none of that pith and membrane when Dawn French tucks in.

So here's the finished article. There was supposed to be gucamole in the bottom of the taco (but I didn't make any/forgot/couldn't be bothered) then iceberg, then chicken, then salsa.  Girl had taco and chicken (with the bits of chilli picked off).  Boy refused the salsa but ate the rest. Mr ate it all (he knows which side his bread is buttered on)

Not sure I'd bother making it again.  Chicken itself was nice - basically marinaded in OJ, honey, chilli, S&P then grilled.  But the salsa wasn't all that special although the oranges did cut nicely through the chilli - or perhaps that was the blood!  Gucamole might have helped - seemed a bit dry. I served it with Jamie Olivers Rice & Peas from the 30 minute meals book. Its quickly become one of my staple side dishes and the leftovers are fab cold - it I will be making again and again.