CHICKEN, MOZZARELLA AND COURGETTES IN A BAG

INGREDIENTS (for two people):
2 chicken breasts
125g mozzarella (or 6 slices)
1 medium size courgette
salt, paper, olive oil, oregano (plenty of)






I don’t remember where I got this recipe from, but I do know that it makes a delicious and stunning dinner party dish. Here are the ingredients for two parcels, but you can make as many as you can fit in your oven – just don’t forget to increase the baking time. Once I made parcels for a dinner party of seven and it was a great success.



Cut the courgette in approx 1cm thick slices. You need 6-8 pieces for a parcel. Sprinkle with salt and set aside. Slice mozzarella in 6 pieces. Season chicken breasts with salt and paper and make 3 vertical cuts on each of them, but make sure you don’t cut it all the way through. Put a slice of mozzarella in each cut. For each parcel you also need a 30X30 piece of kitchen foil.

Arrange sliced courgette in the centre of the foil and lay chicken breast on top. Nicely arrange the foil around the courgettes and chicken as if it was a bag and then pour over a generous amount of olive oil and sprinkle with oregano. Close the foil in a parcel and put on an oven tray. Repeat with the second parcel (and the third etc as required). When all the parcels are done, put the tray in an oven preheated to 200 degrees Celsius. Baking time for two parcels is 40 minutes, but if you have six than you need to increase the baking time to 1h.

In the mean time prepare a side dish. My favourite accompaniment is mashed potatoes as it can nicely soak up the yummy juices of olive oil, melted mozzarella and oregano. It is also good with plain rice.

These parcels are a little bit tricky to serve and you have to be careful when transferring them to the plate. Ultimately you can just place an unopened parcel on your guest’s plate, but that could make them uncomfortable as how to eat it. The best way is to open the parcel carefully making sure the juices don’t leak out. Transfer the chicken and courgettes first and then pour over the juices directly from the foil.

The chicken is juicy and soft, redolent of oregano and olive oil. If you wish you can also add sliced tomatoes alongside courgettes for a more colourful dish. But as I don’t like tomatoes, I stick to my green & white version...

Courgettes, chicken and mozzarella in a bag