Pancetta Wrapped Chicken Thighs With Potatoes & Tomatoes

I have got the most incredible crowd pleaser of a dish. This is Sicilian inspired. Beautiful chicken thighs wrapped in smoky pancetta, prosciutto, stuffed with the most amazing pesto cum salsa verde. And we cook it above the most delicious potatoes with tomatoes. And it all starts here with some lovely sliced potatoes. A kilo and a half peeled and sliced about a centimetre thick. About five or six minutes of par boiling and then the next job is to peel some tomatoes. What I want to do is just simply prick it with the tip of a knife and we're going to pop it in the water for the last 45 seconds of the par boiling of the potatoes. About 250 grams goes in. That'll take the skin off of the outside of the tomatoes and then we can take the tomatoes out first by removing the skin that allows the tomato to take on flavour but also the juices to come out and then we can drain the potatoes. So at this stage in the game I literally just squeeze the tomatoes through my hand and the skin will just easily come off. We want to give it a basic seasoning here with salt and pepper and a nice kiss of olive oil. So the potatoes now go in but you can see already that these potatoes are going to suck up the flavour of the tomatoes. We're going to whack it in the oven. The oven is at 200 degrees celsius. In it goes. So we're going to make a paste. Think pesto, think salsa verde. So it starts here with really Sicilian inspired flavours. So grab six garlic cloves, six anchovy fillets, 60 grams of blanched almonds and give them a good old pounding. There's something about bashing things up that just completely commands more flavour. Roughly chop a big bunch of parsley and mint and go in with a heaped tablespoon of capers. We're going to get some wet stuff in. So the oil from the anchovies is incredibly tasty. Don't waste that. And then the secret ingredient, balsamic. This sweetness and this sourness works with those incredible ingredients and I'm just going to pile that stuffing on top. All I do now is just rub it all over the chicken and now for the really fun bit, wrapping up the chicken with two different types of cured meat. I'm going to take eight pieces of pancetta and just lay it at a slight angle and then on top of the pancetta, prosciutto. The reason I'm using two cured meats is because the chicken thigh that's had the fat removed, it could potentially go dry. So we can solve that problem by adding back the fat. This is going to give you flavour like you can't believe. We now have like a landing strip for these beautiful chicken thighs and the amazing stuffing. For me what I love about this is there's people that buy chicken thighs all the time but to have a new little trick is brilliant. Now take that little bit of prosciutto and pancetta and roll it up. Think of it like a sleeping bag for these beautiful chicken thighs. Absolutely beautiful and you can just plump it and tuck it into shape. So in we go with a skewer and just it'll go all the way through. That is what you end up with. Now let me just wash my hands a second and I'm going to go and get my potatoes and tomatoes. These spuds have only had like 10 minutes. What I want to do and the reason I like the skewers is I can place the chicken over and as those chicken thighs and the pancetta and the prosciutto gets crispy it's going to rain down on those potatoes to make them the best potatoes you've ever had. So back in the oven now, still at 200. Well the chicken has had 45 minutes. This little hut smells heavenly. I've even got myself a little drink. So here we go. Come on. Look at that. That is a beautiful chicken dish. Look at the way that the fat and the juices have made you the most incredible, incredible potatoes. So guys, get yourself a nice carving knife and just gently rock down the middle of the skewer to reveal this. Come on. Look at the rolls and the folds, the crispy bits and the stuffing. If you look at the potatoes here can you see how they're kind of roasted but kind of baked but kind of crispy. I love it. It's confused just like me but I don't care. In there we go. These will be like tomatoes you've never had before and then when it comes to our good old friend Mr Chicken. Just get it on there. How nice is that? I personally just love it with a green salad. Lemony rocket from a height and what you can do is take that last little bit of balsamic. Oh yes. Happy birthday and it's not even a birthday. Bit of chicken, bit of prosciutto. Oh yeah. You've got the savouriness, the fragrance, the ironiness of the mint and the parsley, the anchovies, the garlic, the capers, nice little glass of white wine. We are in Italy. Sort of.