Alphabetic Recipe Ll — Llŷn Peninsula Chicken (Cyw Iâr Pen Llŷn)

Today we have a classic Welsh (Cymric) recipe for a traditional for a classic dish of breaded chicken stuffed with bacon and cheese that's served with a cream sauce.

Today's is the fourteenth entry of my new series of Alphabetic recipes. Each day for the next month and more, I will be adding a new recipe linked to a different letter of the alphabet. As I collect recipes from all over the globe, and have lots of Welsh recipes, I am going to use a blend of the Welsh and English alphabets:

A | B | C | D | E | F | Ff | G | H | I | J | K | L | Ll | M | N | O | P | Q | R | Rh | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

so there will be 30 entries in total. As today is the fourteenth day in this series I am providing a recipe starting with the letter 'Ll'. Ll is a letter in the Welsh alphabet that's unique to Welsh (and a few other languages, notably Zulu) that is an aspirated 'L' that historically was represented in English as 'hl'. This is a modern recipe from my own home region.

Llŷn Peninsula Chicken (Cyw Iâr Pen Llŷn)

This is a classic Cymric (Welsh) dish of flattened chicken breasts in which bacon and cheese are inserted that are breaded and fried before serving with a cream sauce.


Monterey Jack cheese is produced by the South Caernarfon Creameries on the Llŷn peninsula and the combination of fowl with bacon is a tradition of the region.

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts
4 slices of smoked bacon
225g Monterey Jack cheese, quartered
1 egg, well beaten
225g flour
225g breadcrumbs
225ml double cream
110g butter
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
chives and coriander (cilantro) leaves to decorate

Method:

Trim the chicken breasts nicely then sandwich between two sheets of clingfilm (plastic wrap). Beat the chicken breasts with a mallet or rolling pin until thin and flat then remove the plastic sheet from the top.

Repeat this process with all the chicken breasts. Enclose each piece of cheese in the bacon then arrange in the centre of each flattened chicken breast. Fold the sides of the chicken over the bacon-wrapped cheese then bring the edges of the chicken together and press to seal.

Coat the chicken parcels in flour then dip in the beaten egg, followed by the breadcrumbs. Ensure that the chicken is well and evenly coated in breadcrumbs. Shake off any excess.

Heat oil or butter in a non-stick pan, add the breaded chicken breasts and fry until the breadcrumbs are nicely golden brown (about 2 or 3 minutes per side). Transfer the chicken breasts to an oven-proof dish then place in an oven pre-heated to 180ºC and bake for about 10 minutes (reserve the frying pan).

Take the chicken out of the oven then transfer to a warmed plate and set aside to keep warm. Place the pan used to fry the chicken back on the heat then stir in the butter and cream. Bring the mixture to a boil, season liberally to taste then take off the heat.

Slice the chicken breasts at an angle. Arrange on serving plates then pour a little of the cream sauce over and around them. Garnish with the coriander and chives then serve immediately.

The recipe presented here is based, with permission, on the Celtnet Llŷn Peninsula Chicken (Cyw Iâr Pen Llŷn) recipe.

This recipe is brought to you in conjunction with the Celtnet Guide to Recipes Beginning with 'Ll'.

Find more Weslsh recipes on the Recipes from the British Isles page of this blog.