Chicken & Mushroom Ballotines

📝 Ingredients

• 320 g chicken breast (2 fillets of about 160 g each)
• 200 g button mushrooms
• 1 shallot (about 30 g)
• 60 g plain light cream cheese (about 12% fat)
• 10 g fresh parsley (about 5 sprigs)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 500 g floury potatoes (about 4 medium)
• 100 ml semi-skimmed milk + 10 g unsalted butter
• 1 chicken stock cube + 150 ml hot water
• 50 ml light single cream 12% fat
• 1 tsp cornflour (about 4 g)
• Salt, black pepper, nutmeg

🍴 Utensils

• Steamer or saucepan with a steamer basket
• Frying pan
• Saucepan
• Baking paper
• Potato masher
• Rolling pin

📖 Steps

1. Peel the potatoes, cut into evenly sized pieces and put them in the pan of cold salted water. Bring to the boil and cook for 20 min over a medium heat, until the tip of a knife slides in without resistance.
2. Meanwhile, clean the mushrooms and slice them thinly, along with the shallot. Fry them for 8 min in the frying pan with the oil over a medium-high heat, stirring, until their liquid has evaporated and they are lightly browned. Season with salt and pepper and leave to cool slightly.
3. Chop the parsley. In a bowl, mix the cooled mushrooms, cream cheese and parsley into a thick filling. Too wet a filling would make the roll slip: the mushrooms must be really dry before mixing.
4. Place each chicken breast between two sheets of baking paper and flatten it with a rolling pin to an even thickness of about 1 cm, tapping gently without tearing it. Season both sides lightly with salt and pepper.
5. Spread half the filling over each flattened breast, leaving a 1 cm border, then roll up tightly lengthways. Wrap each roll in a sheet of baking paper and twist the ends firmly like a sweet wrapper.
6. Bring the water in the steamer to the boil, place the ballotines in the basket, cover and cook for 20 min over a medium heat. The chicken is cooked when it feels firm and the juices run clear when pierced, with no trace of pink.
7. While they cook, drain the potatoes, return them to the pan and mash with a potato masher. Add the butter, then the milk a little at a time, stirring over a low heat, until the mash is soft. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
8. Take out the ballotines, leave them to rest for 3 min, then unwrap them over a bowl to catch the juices. Dissolve the stock cube in the hot water, pour it into the frying pan with these juices and reduce for 3 min over a high heat.
9. Mix the cornflour into the cold cream, pour it into the frying pan and stir for 1 min over a medium heat, until the sauce coats the spoon. Slice the ballotines into 2 cm rounds, arrange them on the mash and spoon over the creamy sauce.