Chicken with mustard and Parma ham folds

This is a slightly lighter and more refined version of the chicken-and-ham-pie combination I posted about recently.
It’s quite filling, but there is not a lot of carbohydrate. If you’re hungry (or you are making this for legions of teenage boys) serve with crusty bread (or magnificent mustard morsels). Otherwise a green salad with an avocado or two mixed into it, and a mustardy dressing would be quite sufficient enough.
Recipe for chicken with mustard and Parma ham folds
For four
- 4 x chicken breasts, about 200g/8 oz altogether
- Butter and olive oil for frying
- 1 onion, peeled and chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed with 1 tsp smoked salt
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 120ml/½ cup pink Martini
- 600ml/2½ cups chicken stock made with three generous tsps. chicken stock powder
- 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp crème fraîche
- 25g/1 oz, a small bunch of flat leaved parsley (including the stem) – chop
- 90g/3 oz Parma ham
- Smoked salt and Indonesian long pepper
- Cut the chicken breasts into pieces small enough that they don’t need to be cut with a knife.
- In a large oval frying pan, fry the chicken in olive oil until golden.
- Push the chicken to one end of the frying pan, add a knob of butter and fry the onion – when it is just beginning to go transparent add the garlic. Fry for two or three more minutes.
- Add the contents of the frying pan to a medium sized saucepan with a lid. Add the tomato purée, the Martini and the stock.
- Mix all together, bring to the boil and simmer (use the simmering oven if you have an aga), covered, for about half an hour.
- Take off the heat and add the mustard, parsley and crème fraîche.
- Top with folds of Parma ham – put back in a cool oven for half an hour or so if you want to keep warm.
- Serve