Chicken Ballotine

A good roast doesn’t need to be complicated. This Chicken Ballotine is filled with sausage, prosciutto, and pistachios, bringing warmth and comfort to any meal.

📝 Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken – 1.5 to 1.8 kg (– 3.3 to 4 lbs)
• 150 g – 5.3 oz minced beef or veal
• 150 g – 5.3 oz Italian pork sausage (– casing removed)
• 60 g – 2 oz prosciutto (– sliced)
• 60 g – 2 oz mortadella (– sliced)
• 50 g – 1.75 oz Parmigiano Reggiano (– finely grated)
• 1 egg
• 25 ml – 0.9 oz Marsala wine (OR brandy)
• 35 g – 1.25 oz pistachios
• 15 g – 0.5 oz sandwich bread
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• Salt and pepper (– to taste)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 rosemary sprigs
• 4 sage leaves
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tbsp paprika
• 100 ml – 3.5 oz white wine
• 1 chicken stock cube
• 40 ml – 1.4 oz water
• 2 red apples (– cored and sliced into 6 or 8 pieces)
• Extra virgin olive oil (– for brushing)
• Ground pepper and salt (– to taste)

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1--- Chicken and Stuffing ---
2. 2Soak the bread with Marsala and then mix it with all the other ingredients apart from the prosciutto and mortadella slices.
3. 3Keep the stuffing in the fridge while deboning the chicken.
4. 4Debone the chicken following the instructions in How to Debone a Chicken.Note: The chicken should look smooth and flat once deboned, as shown in the photos below.
5. 5Gently flatten the chicken out with a meat mallet.
6. 6Season with salt and pepper.
7. 7Put the prosciutto slices on the open chicken. Spread the stuffing evenly across the surface (make sure to spoon some filling into the thighs so they cook evenly). Layer the mortadella slices on top.
8. 8Close the chicken and tie it up with butcher’s twine (as shown in Jacques Pépin’s Chicken Ballotine video.
9. 9--- Roasting ---
10. 10Put the ballotine in an oven tray and rub it with the ground pepper, paprika, and garlic powder.
11. 11Drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil.
12. 12Put the garlic cloves, bay leaves, rosemary, and sage in the tray.
13. 13Roast in a preheated oven at 230°C – 445°F for the first 15 minutes, then add in the white wine, water, and crumbled stock cube.
14. 14Decrease the temperature to 200°C – 390°F and roast for 1 hour, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 74°C – 165°F (the juices should run clear when you pierce the chicken).
15. 15Add the sliced apples 15 to 20 minutes before the chicken is ready.
16. 16Let the ballotine rest for approximately 20 minutes, covered loosely in foil, before slicing and serving it with the apples and sauce.