Balmoral Chicken

This traditional Scottish chicken dish, stuffed with haggis and served with lashings of creamy whisky sauce, is a fitting main for a celebratory Burns Night feast – along with a dram of your favourite whisky, obviously.

Difficulty:

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 15-18 minutes

Serves: 4

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Ingredients

4 free-range chicken supremes or large skin-on chicken breasts from our Master Butchers
100g haggis
1 tsp freshly picked thyme leaves
Knob of local butter
Splash of oil
Neeps and Tatties (mashed swede and mashed potato)
Steamed seasonal Darts Farm veg to serve

For the Whisky Cream Sauce...

100ml chicken stock
Splash of whisky to taste
200ml Sutton Lucy double cream

Method

Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6. Cut each chicken breast almost in half horizontally to form a pocket. Mash the haggis and thyme together in a small bowl with a fork (no need to season). Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions, then use to stuff the breasts. Use 1 or 2 cocktail sticks to secure the filling inside
Heat the butter and oil in the frying pan over a medium-high heat, add the chicken skin-side down and cook for about 5 minutes or until golden brown. Turn the chicken breasts over and brown the other sides for 3 minutes. Transfer the pan to the oven and roast for 15-18 minutes or until just cooked through (the juices will run clear when the chicken breast is pierced with a skewer in the thickest part)
Remove the chicken and put on a plate to rest, loosely covered with foil to keep warm. Put the pan back on the hob, pour in the stock and use a wooden spoon to scrape up all the tasty browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in a splash of whisky and the cream, then season with salt and plenty of black pepper, adding a little more whisky to taste. Serve the chicken with neeps and tatties, steamed seasonal greens and a spoonful of whisky cream sauce.