Daring Cooks Challenge - July 2012 - En Papillote

 I was very nervous when I read the Daring Cooks Challenge for July. Sarah from All our fingers in the pie challenged us to cook "en papillote". I have never heard of this cooking method (which speaks volumes of my hospitality training) and was very nervous to try it. This meant I put it off until the very last minute. I completed the challenge on Wednesday night. 3 days before the deadline!! It turned out to be so easy, so tasty and a future addition to our weekly menus.

Realising I needed to get cooking, I decided to head to the internet for some motivation, inspiration and just some ideas. A needed a "cheat's guide" an "easy way" to make this! I couldn't believe my luck when I found one of my favourite food bloggers had a post on cooking en papillote. Nina Timm from My Easy Cooking posted my recipe inspiration. Here we go!

Chicken En Papillote

2 x chicken breasts

Thyme & other herbs

Olive Oil

White Wine

1 x potato

Parchment Paper

I cut the parchment paper into a heart as suggested.

The potatoes was thinly sliced to create enough for two portions and arranged in a scalloped circle. I placed a chicken breast on the potatoes. It's very important to leave the skin and bone on the breast. I sprayed some olive oil onto the chicken breast to help keep the spices and herbs on the breast.

I sprinkled some chicken spice, salt and pepper, dried thyme and mixed herbs on the chicken breast. The potatoes and the chicken was placed on the parchment paper.

Thanks to Sarah and Nina's easy tutorial I twisted the edges of the heart to create the pouch in which I would be cooking the chicken. Just before sealing the pouch I poured in a dash of white wine. The oven had been pre-heated to 180 degrees and in went the chicken.

I decided to create a mini pouch of asparagus. Once I got started on this I got brave!

mmmmm, one pouch broken open to reveal AWESOME juicy chicken.

Deliciousness! The chicken was so moist and tasty. The potatoes cooked to perfect and the asparagus just too good.

Thank you for challenging me and opening my eyes to something new and delicious. We're doing this again before the end of the month.