Saturday, April 23, 2011

"Vive la Difference"!

The recipe today uses one chicken breast, and makes 12 'bites', so a worthy 'dish' to make either for buffet parties, or for 'nibbles' to eat whilst watching TV. As ever, reduce the amounts of pesto/cheese if you wish to economise. Left-over shreds of cooked ham from a roast chicken can be used instead of cooking a breast from scratch.
Potato 'Pizzettas': makes 12
1 chicken breast fillet (approx 7 oz/200g)
little cooking oil
1 lb (450g) potatoes, peeled
2 oz (50g) butter, melted
2 oz (40g) bottled pesto
3 button mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 oz (50g) grated Mozzarella cheese
1 oz (25g) grated Parmesan cheese
few fresh basil leaves

Put a little oil into a small frying pan and gently fry the chicken until cooked through, then slice thinly.
Coarsely grate the potato into a bowl, cover with cold water and leave for 5 minutes, then drain well and either squeeze potato with hands to remove excess water, and pat dry, or place in the centre of a clean tea towel, then pull corners together, twist and 'wring out' the spuds to removed as much liquid as possible.
Put potato into clean bowl, pour over melted butter and mix well together.
Using a 6.5cm (don't know what that is in inches)scone cutter, place this on an oven tray that has first been lined with baking parchment, then press 1 tblsp of the buttered and grated potato inside, pressing down firmly. Carefully remove the cutter, and repeat all over the tray - leaving about 2cm (?) between each disc.
Bake at 200C, 400F, gas 6 for 20 minutes, then flip each disc over with a fish slice or palette knife, and bake for a further 5 - 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from oven, spread each dish with s little pesto (to taste), top with chicken and slices of mushroom, sprinkle top with a mixture of the cheeses, then return to oven and bake for a further 5 minutes or until cheese has melted and is bubbling. Garnish each disc with a basil leaf before serving. Best eaten hot/warm.