“Chef Phineas Kuchicha’s boneless stuffed chicken thighs”

This is also called Ballotine of Chicken

I think this falls into the category of African Style Cuisine, because, firstly, the recipe was designed and created by a native African, Phineas Kuchicha who is our incredibly talented Executive Chef at the Game Lodge where we both work, and secondly, this forms part of our Boutique Lunch menu served for our Foreign visitors. It is boned from scratch and prepared by our amazing team of Chefs under Phineas' direction.

This is one of the most innovative methods of preparing chicken I have ever come across. Using legs and thighs instead of the more popular breasts is very much more flavorful and succulent. I really cant encourage you enough to give this a go. You will be amazed.

Ingredients

4x Boned chicken leg and thighs joined complete. (see below how to do this yourself if you don’t have a friendly butcher) Get the biggest you can, because you may waste a bit in the boning.

1 tsp salt
250ml double cream
400g cleaned mushrooms, roughly chopped
100g cleaned and shredded spinach
2 cloves of garlic, chopped

100g bread crumbs

100g chopped onions 

(Boning might waste a leg and thigh whilst you practice, but add it to your chicken stock pot along with the bones you remove. I tried this for the first time last week with a little success. Lay the leg and thigh on a board with the bend facing towards you. Slice from just below the knuckle along the leg bone, over the joint and down the thigh bone. Then snap off the bone with shears at the knuckle. Leave that bit of bone in. Use your fingers and the tip of a knife and push the meat away from the rest of the bone. You may have to cut a bit around the joint area. Don't worry if it doesn't look very neat. You can tidy it up after stuffing when you skewer it.

Method

 

Method

-Marinate the boned chicken in a little oil, chopped 2 cloves garlic, 2 teaspoons paprika, seasoning- salt and pepper, mixed herbs for at least 30min

-fry onions, garlic, mushrooms and spinach for 3min  

-add bread crumbs and cream

-simmer for 4 min till thick and cool for a few min.

-spread the de-boned chicken legs and spoon the stuffing (about a tablespoon) lengthwise 

-roll and secure with a string or thread some tooth picks through so they do not open up when cooking

-preheat oven at 180 degrees celcius (176 F)

-roast in the oven for 15-20min (depending on the size of the legs) till done but still juicy.

Slice across the leg/thigh  and serve as required