Wild Garlic Chicken Kiev

Remove the butter from the fridge and bring up to room temperature.

Ideally use a blender (or a wooden spoon and elbow grease!) to blend the softened butter, minced garlic and chopped wild garlic together into a bright green butter.

Scoop the butter out onto a sheet of cling film and roll up tightly into a sausage shape.

Place the garlic butter in the fridge for an hour, or the freezer for 10 minutes to harden.

Butterfly a chicken breast by carefully slicing through the thinnest part of the breast and opening it up like a book. Don't cut right through.

Pop the chicken breast between two large pieces of cling film.

Using a rolling pin or mallet (meat tenderiser) bash it evenly all over until it is a thin, even sheet.

Be careful not to overdo it and create holes in the meat as you'll lose the garlic butter as it cooks.

The thinner it is, the better, but my first one was pretty chunky (about half an inch in places) and amazingly the butter stayed in situ perfectly even though it didn't roll up particularly neatly.

Season both sides of the meat sheet with salt and pepper.

Cut the sausage of garlic butter in half lengthways, and roll one half of it up in the chicken.

Aim to tuck the sides of the chicken in if possible.

Repeat with the second breast and rest of the butter.

(If you have any garlic butter leftover, you can re-wrap it in clingfilm and store it in the freezer.)

Place three bowls on your kitchen counter.

In the the first one add the flour, in the second one the eggs, and the final one the breadcrumbs.

Carefully pick up a stuffed chicken breast and dust it in the flour.

Then place it in the beaten eggs, turning it over to coat all sides.

Hold the chicken over the bowl to let the excess egg drip off, then roll it around in the breadcrumbs, coating all sides.

For an extra crispy crust, return the chicken to the egg mixture and finally the breadcrumbs.

Set aside and repeat with the second piece of chicken.

Ideally use a heavy frying pan you can use in a hot oven. A cast iron skillet is ideal for this.

Heat the pan on the hob over a medium high heat.

Add the oil and gently fry the Kiev’s until they are golden brown.

Place the skillet into the preheated oven (or onto a baking sheet if not using an oven proof pan) and bake for 20 minutes.

On removal from the oven, you can test the internal temperature to ensure the chicken is at, or above, 75C (167F).

I like to serve my chicken Kiev with mashed potatoes and green beans or peas.

When the crusty Kiev is cut into, a pool of molten garlic butter in released onto the plate flavouring all the other items on the plate. It’s heavenly!