Rolled chicken breasts with chorizo stuffing and green beans

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**RECIPE, SERVES TWO**

2 chicken breasts
2 oz (50g) dried chorizo (or twice that quantity of fresh sausage)
1 shallot
1 lemon
6 oz (170g) fresh green beans
breadcrumbs
white wine (water + a splash of vinegar would be fine instead)
fresh herb (I used dill, but thyme or parsley would be good)
olive oil
butter
salt
pepper

Dice the chorizo as finely as possible, and dice the shallot. Put them both into a cold pan, turn the heat on medium, and stir occasionally as fat renders out of the meat and cooks the shallots. When the shallots look reasonably soft, put in a roughly equal quantity of breadcrumbs, stir and toast them for a minute. Deglaze with white wine, stirring in enough wine to get the breadcrumbs wet and just barely moldable. Take the pan off the heat. Grate in some zest from the lemon. Tear in some fresh herbs. Stir and taste for seasoning — add as much salt and pepper as you want.

Butterfly each chicken breast then pound them out flat. Pour the stuffing onto the cut side of the meat, roll up each piece and tie it snug with 4-5 loops of butcher's twine each. Season the rolls with salt. Put the pan you cooked the stuffing in back on medium (or maybe medium-low) heat and coat with olive oil. Gently sear the rolls on all sides. Drop in a knob of butter, let it melt and roll the chicken around in it. Cover the pan with a lid or a piece of foil and let the chicken cook until done inside, checking and rolling them around frequently.

I pull them at an internal temperature of 155ºF/68ºC. I think carryover heat probably takes them to the recommended temperature as they rest on the cutting board, but if you need to be extra-careful about food-borne illness, cook them another 5º or so. This chicken takes about 15 minute for me from the time I put it in the pan.

While the chicken rests, dump any burned bits of stuffing out of the pan, return it to the heat and dump in the green beans. Fry them for a minute, then deglaze with white wine — pour in enough to come maybe a third of the way up the beans. Cover, turn the heat up to high and let the beans steam, checking and stirring frequently. If the liquid ever looks close to going dry, pour in a little water before it burns. When the beans are almost as tender as you want them, turn the heat off, season with salt and pepper to taste, and melt in a little butter to thicken the pan sauce.

Be sure to slice the chicken with a freshly-sharpened knife. Serve with green beans and a lemon wedge to squeeze over the meat.