Herb & ricotta chicken with mushroom rice

Stuff chicken breasts with a creamy garlic and Parmesan filling for a special, yet super-healthy, dinner that provides folate, iron and two of your 5-a-day

Prep:10 mins
Cook:35 mins

Serves 2
Easy

Nutrition per serving

kcal 514
fat 12g
saturates 4g
carbs 52g
sugars 4g
fibre 7g
protein 47g
salt 0.5g

Ingredients

2½ tsp rapeseed oil
2 leeks, washed and sliced
180g closed cup mushrooms, roughly sliced
125g brown basmati rice
3 thyme sprigs
2 tsp vegetable bouillon powder
60g ricotta
good handful basil, chopped, plus a few small leaves, to serve
1 garlic clove, finely grated
10g parmesan, finely grated
2 skinless chicken breast fillets
handful chopped parsley, plus extra to serve

Tip

Sign up to our Healthy Diet Plan

This recipe is part of our free Healthy Diet Plan. Sign up today and we’ll send you seven days of triple-tested, nutritionally optimised recipes, plus expert tips to help you look and feel your very best!

Method

Heat 1 tsp oil in a large pan, then add the leeks and stir-fry until softened and charred around the edges. Tip in the mushrooms and cook until softened.
Stir in the rice and thyme sprigs with the bouillon powder, then pour in 700ml boiling water. Cover and leave to simmer for 30 mins.
While the rice is cooking, mix the ricotta with the basil, garlic and parmesan. Cut a slash in the top of each chicken breast, then slightly open out and spoon on the ricotta mix. Heat the remaining 1½ tsp oil in a small frying pan, then add the chicken, ricotta-side up. Cover with a lid and cook over a low heat for 10 mins. Once cooked, turn off the heat and leave while you wait for the rice to finish cooking.
Pour any juices from the chicken into the rice, then cook for 5 mins more to get rid of any excess moisture. Stir the parsley through the rice, remove the thyme sprigs and spoon onto two plates, top with the chicken, and scatter over the basil and more parsley leaves.