Spring 2024Chicken breast stuffed with butternut squash mousse, potato fondant, carrots and parmesan cream sauce

Chef David Hayden and wife Rachael run The Gallows in Milnrow. They were winners of Come Dine with Me: The Professionals last year.

David, who has catered for premiership footballers, TV stars and other celebs, shares his recipe for stuffed chicken breast to serve two people.

Ingredients

• 3 chicken breasts
• 1 butternut squash
• 1 egg white
• 200ml double cream
• 100g parmesan
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 jacket potato
• 250g butter
• 2 sprigs of parsley
• 3 carrots
• Rapeseed oil
• Salt and pepper

• Peel and deseed the butternut squash, dice and roast at 180°C for 8/10 minutes until tender.

• Blend the cooked squash with 25ml double cream until smooth.

• Dice one raw chicken breast and blend until smooth with one egg white and season.

• Mix the chicken purée with the butternut squash purée.

• Put the mixture in a piping bag and place in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it.

• Peel and cut the potato into two round shapes.

• Pan fry both sides of the potato until golden brown with a teaspoon of rapeseed oil.

• Add the butter to the potato with a clove of garlic and sprigs of parsley.

• Baste the potato with the melted butter and place in the oven until tender, 20/25 minutes at 180°C.

• Make an incision (pocket) in the chicken breast and pipe in the butternut squash mousse.

• Cook for 10/12 minutes in a non stick pan until golden brown and finish in the oven for 10 minutes

• Peel the carrots, then cut them into four long pieces and divide diagonally, blanch in boiling water for four minutes until soft, and then add to the chicken pan in the oven.

• To make the sauce, reduce 175ml double cream over a medium heat with a crushed garlic clove until thickened, then add the parmesan cheese and some black pepper.

• Present the dish with the potato in the centre of the plate with the carrots around the outside; slice the chicken breast on top and encircle with parmesan sauce.