Chicken and Bacon Roll with Chanterelles

Chicken Roll Roast with Chanterelles

I never wanted kids when I was younger and sometimes wonder why I ended up with 3 of them. Do not get me wrong, God knows I adore them all each in his own way and wouldn't have them any differently (or maybe just...), but on certain days I do remember why I didn't want any. And those moments long ago had been illuminated ones after all.

Pregnancy was fun and I do regret not having one of those studio shots taken during mine. Bringing up babies had been better than playing with Zapf dolls, baby clothes costing less than doll clothes, but we did end up using more than one diaper. Past age 3, they started getting difficult to be ignored and the chances of being called up to meet the school principal(s) or other person(s) of authority increased frighteningly. Mum would say that it's karma, since she has had her share of meeting persons of authority where I was concerned.

Last evening Hub was called to the Golf Club to meet its Director. I will not embarrass my teenager by telling the whole world what he has done wrong this time, but suffice to say that as usual he had not taken our advice and has therefore gotten himself into some trouble.

My blood was needless to say boiling all evening, but given a night's sleep and a morning stuffing myself with baked curry puffs, I'm feeling more philosophical about the whole thing and can now say that that's all part and parcel of growing up, that hopefully it will teach him something - if he will only but learn from it.

It was however fortunate that I had thought to get dinner out early yesterday or I would have poisoned the family in my state of mind. As it was, we had a lovely Chicken and Bacon Roll Roast with Chanterelles in Cream and White Wine Sauce. Voilà, I got it all out.

Chicken Roll Roast with Chanterelles :

800g chicken thighs and breasts (deboned, skin-on, tied into a roll)

2-3 bacon strips

fresh rosemary leaves

300g fresh chanterelles

1 large fresh porcini

1 onion (chopped)

1 garlic clove (chopped)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp chicken stock granules

80ml dry white wine

salt and pepper to taste

2-3 tbsp crème fraîche

Get your butcher to prepare the chicken roll. It's usually deboned whole chicken or chicken thighs and/or breasts covered with bacon and fresh herbs and tied together with kitchen strings.

Clean and slice the mushrooms.

Using a Le Creuset or similar pot, oil the bottom and brown the roll bacon-side down. Then brown the other 3 sides.

Add more olive oil and the chopped onions and garlic. When they are fragrant, add the mushrooms. Coat them with the fragrant oil.

Sprinkle black pepper all over. Add the stock granules to the mushrooms and pour the white wine over everything. Cover the pot and cook on medium-low heat for 20-25 minutes.

Check that the meat is cooked or almost cooked. Add salt to taste and stir in the cream. Cover the pot and cook for another 10-15 minutes on low heat.

Serve hot on steamed basmati rice.