Chicken cushions

Yesterday I wandered down to the butchers with no particular plan in mind. Lundulph had asked for more chicken and I was contemplating a meat ball soup towards the end of the week. I also asked for turkey, which they didn't have at the moment, but recommended a chicken cushion. This is two breasts of chicken, with their skin and with onion and sage stuffing, tied up with string. They looked pretty, so I bought one. I also enquired about rabbit, at which point the butcher turned around and pointed at two skinned bunnies hanging behind him. Having read (and drooled) over the casserole that Fred and Ginger did the other day, I couldn't resist the temptation and bought that as well. I put the rabbit in the freezer for now and cooked the chicken cushion today.

I took the opportunity to consult my Mum on rabbits and received about 20 different recipes, so will go through them and see which one reads tastiest.

So chicken cushion. I forgot to ask at what temperature to cook it and for how long, I guessed at gas mark 6 (200 degrees) and left it in for about 45 minutes, while I got everything else ready. This is what it looked like as a whole:


The only thing I did was to spray the tin foil with grape seed oil and also spray some on top. I also gave it a couple of sprays while it was roasting too.

To accompany the chicken, I steamed some broccoli, we haven't had that for a while and made a creamy warm potato salad.

Ingredients

300 ml créme fraîche
1 bunch of chives
1 tbsp dried dill
salt and pepper
1 kg waxy salad potatoes

Method

1. Stir the créme fraîche smooth.
2. Cut the chives finely and add, along with dill, salt and pepper. Stir in well and leave to stand in the fridge for a few hours. It should taste a bit too salty and will become right once mixed with the potatoes.
3. Wash and dice the potatoes, then steam them until just done. Be careful not to over-cook so they go mushy.
4. Let cool slightly, then pour in the créme fraîche mixture and stir in carefully and serve straight away.

This turned out to be quite delicious.