Chicken margherita melt: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 17:23, 14 April 2024

This recipe requires preparation in advance!

Chicken margherita melt

Servings:	Serves 2
Calories per serving:	477
Ready in:	2 hours, 20 minutes
Prep. time:	2 hours
Cook time:	20 minutes
Difficulty:
Recipe author:	Chef
First published:	24th October 2014

While I'm away, Anne, my partner usually take the 'easy way out' when it comes to cooking and gets ready-meals. She was very taken with Morrison's Chicken margherita melt and asked if I could make it as she enjoyed it so much.

This is my attempt at reproducing a version of it. The original ready meal came with roast potatoes, but I think it would be nicer in flour or corn tortillas.

Ingredients

Printable 🖨 shopping 🛒 list & 👩‍🍳 method for this recipe

• 2 chicken breasts, skin removed
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Half a teaspoon of Mexican oregano - Normal oregano is perfectly good, but not quite a strongly flavoured
• 1 egg, beaten
• Flour for dredging - I love to use masa harina or fineyellow cornmeal for this but plain flour is fine
• 1 ball of mozzarella cheese thinly sliced

salsa

• 4 fresh tomatoes
• 1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
• Small bunch of spring onions
• Freshly picked basil leaves
• 1 small red chilli, sliced, seeds removed if preferred
• 1 small green indian chilli, sliced, seeds removed if preferred
• Zest and juice of 1 lime
• 2 tablespoons of Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Mise en place

• Flatten the chicken breasts by bashing them with a rolling pin between a sheet of greaseproof paper; see here for more detailed steps and a neat tip
• Add the flattened chicken breasts to a Lock & Lock box together with salt, pepper, crushed garlic, balsamic vinegar and the Mexican oregano
• Clip on the lid, shake like mad to mix the marinade and coat the chicken
• Refrigerate for a few hours if possible
• Prepare your grill so you can melt the mozzarella when you are ready to serve
• Warm a serving platter

• 

  Laid out on a flour tortilla, with a little sour cream too!

• 

  Serve yourself! Not up to Jamie Oliver's presentation standards but it worked well for us.

• 

  Direct from grilling

• 

  Ready to grill

• 

  Pan fried for 9 minutes

Method

1. Prepare 3 plates, one with your dredging flour, one with the beaten egg and the last with breadcrumbs
2. Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat and add a few tablespoons or olive oil
3. Dredge both sides of the marinaded chicken in a saucer of your flour to coat. This helps the beaten egg to stick to the meat
4. Dip the floured chicken in the beaten egg and then pull it through the breadcrumbs and pop them into the hot frying pan
5. Cook for 4 minutes on each side or until the chicken is properly cooked and pop them onto a paper towel
6. Slice the cooked chicken into 2.5 cm (1") thick strips and place on a baking tray. I've used a silicone baking mat as it's easier to clean and does not stick
7. Place the mozzarella on top of the cooked chicken and grill until it's nice and gooey

salsa and tortillas

1. Chop the tomatoes into eight slices
2. Slice the spring onions on the diagonal
3. Roughly tear the basil leaves into pieces to release their aromatics
4. Add these to a bowl together with the chopped chillies, lime juice and zest, olive oil and seasoning and mix well
5. Microwave the corn tortillas for 1 minute to warm them

Serving suggestions

Serve the cheesey chicken from a hot platter and roll up the tortillas together with the salsa

Recipe source

• My variation on a Morrisons ready meal; Chicken Margherita melt

Variations

This would be good with rice, roast potatoes, even as a filling for taco shells.

Chef's notes

My original choice was to serve this with pitta breads, that would probably have been a bit easier to eat and less messy than soft tortillas.

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