Stuffed Chicken Breasts
This came from a friend who cooks brilliantly and I have lost the original recipe.  Here is the version from 17th November 2012.

for two:

2 smallish, skinned chicken breasts
1 tablespoon of breadcrumbs
1 egg yolk
4 or 5 firm brown mushrooms
1 shallot (not round - one of the long ones)
4 thinnest slices Parma ham or similar
Olive oil
Butter
Salt, pepper, nutmeg and a pinch of dried thyme or (better) tarragon

Trim the breasts and, if you can, remove the central sinew without damaging the meat.  If unsure, don't.  Take a piece of clingfilm about 12" square and lay it onto the worktop.  Brush with a good teaspoon of oil.  Take another piece of cling, lay it on top and press all over so that both pieces have an even layer of oil.  Take the top one off, put a chicken breast in the centre, and replace it.  This is much the easiest way of bashing a piece of meat flat!  Do you have a meat mallet?  Some say a rolling pin will do the trick, or a good heavy pestle. Best to get a mallet - you are going to want to do this recipe again! Beat the breast so that it is maybe 1/2 a cm thick or a touch less. Leave it in it's film and repeat the process for breast no 2.

 

Chop the shallot as finely as you can and cook it slowly in 1/2 oz or more of butter with salt pepper and nutmeg.  Cut the mushrooms into paper thin slices, or chop (less elegant) and add to the shallot with the dried herb.  Cook gently to start then fast to concentrate any mushroom moisture back intot he mixture.  Beat the egg yolk and the crumbs, add the shallot mushroom mixture and stir well so that it is completely amalgamated.  (If you don't have any crumbs, add a teaspoon of plain flour to the mushroom mix at the end but make sure that it is well cooked, then put the mixture into a bowl with the yolk and mix well). 

 

Lay two pieces of Parma ham alongside each other on a board.  Remove the top film from a bashed breast and gently lay it (breast down/bottom film up) onto the middle of the ham.  Ideally it should be squareish and sit in the centre with 1cm or so of a ham border but it doesnt matter too much.  Take half the stuffing mix and lay it down the middle of the chicken, then roll it up, tucking in the ends.  You will have a neat, fat ham-wrapped cylinder, I hope.

 

Cook very slowly for about 30 minutes in a frying pan in as little butter as possible, turning every 5 minutes or so to get the chicken completely cooked. 

 

These are very good.  Sometimes I add a teaspoon of white truffle paste (from a jar) to the stuffing, or into a mushroom sauce for them.