I am generally very much into cooking and trying out new things, still
most of the time when I am standing in the kitchen my creativity has its
limits. So finally, something like spicy couscous with vegetables, raisins and
peanuts is normally the maximum. Last weekend I took my courage in both hands
and tried out something completely new. I dared to prepare a special Texan dish
out of Jamie Oliver’s cookery books, namely Chicken Maryland. Yes, it does
sound strange and made me frown. An unusual combination of savoury and sweet but I gave it a try
and if you want to do the same, here you are- the recipe to an extraordinary
taste experience:
Ingredients (serve 4)
·
4 Chicken breasts
·
Beans
o
White cannellini beans. I couldn’t find them in the supermarket, so I
just bought 1 can of big white beans. The most important is that they’ve already been
cooked!
·
Corn
o
Sweet corn is the best choice if you ask me
o
Jamie recommends to use fresh corn but I just used canned corn
·
Cream
o
“Schlagobers”, 300 ml
·
Bacon
o
You’ll need around 12 slices
·
1/3 cup of white wine
·
2 peeled bananas
·
Mint leaves
·
Salt and pepper
·
A pinch of chili powder, although it depends on how spicy you like to
have your corn
·
Butter
·
A rectangular baking tin
Here we go!
Pre-heat the oven to 220°C. Wash corn and beans. Half of the beans need to be mashed (best with a
little fork. It is important that the whole thing gets a little creamy). Mix
corn and beans in the baking tin and season it with salt, pepper and- if you
like- chili. Pour cream and wine over the mixture.
Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Chop the bananas in thin slices so
that you can still wrap the slices of bacon around each chicken breast. This
requests a bit of skill as you don’t want the bananas to drop down. If you are
into savoury food as well, sprinkle the chicken again with a slight amount of
salt and pepper. Place the chicken breasts, which are now covered in banana
slices and bacon, gently on top of the mixture of corn, beans, wine and cream. Before
putting it into the oven, place a couple of butter flakes on top of the corn in
order to let them become a little crispy.
Leave it in the oven for around 40 minutes. At this point the bacon should have
turned crispy but make sure not to burn it.
After gotten it out of the oven, sprinkle it with one handful mint to give it
one last boost in flavour.
For serving it, just place it on the table and let your guests help themselves.
For me, this dish was so moreish that I could’ve eaten seconds and thirds. The
combination of sweet and spicy was gorgeous and I am pleased having tried it
out!
If you’ve decided to prepare this fabulous dish and have any questions, don’t
hesitate to ask me and, of course, I would love to know about your experience! Have a nice day!
