Chicken Kyiv

Garlic butter

• butter150 g
• garlic4 cloves
• flat-leaf parsley4 tbsp
• lemon (optional)½
• salt½ tsp
• black pepper

Chicken

• skinless chicken breasts4
• salt

Crumb

• plain flour80 g
• eggs3
• dried breadcrumbs200 g
• sunflower oil500 ml

Garlic butter

1. 01

   Crush the garlic to a paste, finely chop the parsley and grate the zest of the lemon. Beat the softened butter with the garlic, parsley, lemon zest, salt and pepper until it is evenly green.

2. 02

   Spoon it onto clingfilm, roll it into a log about 3 cm across and twist the ends tight. Freeze for at least 1 hour, until it is solid enough to tap on the worktop.

3. 03

   Cut the frozen log into four equal batons and put them back in the freezer while you prepare the chicken. Butter that has gone soft will squeeze out of the seam as you seal the parcel, and the whole thing leaks in the pan.

Chicken

4. 04

   Lay each breast flat and cut a deep horizontal pocket into the thick side, stopping about 1 cm short of the other edges so the pocket stays closed on three sides.

5. 05

   Cover with clingfilm and beat the thick areas with a rolling pin until the breast is an even 1 cm thick, working from the middle outwards. Do not thin the edges; that is where the seal comes from.

6. 06

   Season inside the pocket with a little of the salt, push a frozen butter baton in, and press the opening shut. Fold any loose flap of meat over the seam and pat the parcel into a neat oval.

Crumb

7. 07

   Set out three shallow bowls with the flour, the eggs, beaten, and the breadcrumbs, and season the flour with the rest of the salt.

8. 08

   Roll a parcel in flour, then egg, then crumbs, pressing the crumbs on firmly. Then put it back through the egg and the crumbs a second time. The double coat is the insurance: the first layer plugs the seam, the second covers anything the first one missed.

9. 09

   Check each parcel all over for bare patches and dab crumbs onto any you find. Chill the finished parcels, seam side down, for at least 30 minutes.

Cooking

10. 10

    Heat the oven to 190°C. Pour the oil into a deep pan to a depth of about 3 cm and bring it to 170°C, when a breadcrumb dropped in sizzles steadily and floats within 2 seconds.

11. 11

    Fry two parcels at a time, seam side down first, for about 2 minutes a side until deep golden. Lift them out with a slotted spoon rather than tongs, which can split the crust, and drain on a rack.

12. 12

    Transfer to a baking tray and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until a probe pushed into the meat beside the butter reads 75°C.

13. 13

    Rest for 3 minutes, then serve immediately, whole, so each person gets the moment where the butter runs out.