Serves 4
1. Begin by making the garlic butter. Mix all the ingredients together really well, then form into a neat pat and chill or freeze until hard.
2. When you’re ready to assemble the kievs, put the milk in a shallow dish, season the flour and put on a plate, put the beaten egg in another dish, and finally put the breadcrumbs on a plate.
3. With a very sharp knife, carefully slit each chicken breast along one side, down almost the whole length, parallel to the grain of the meat, to a depth of about 4cm. Give the thick part of the breast a few firm bashes with a rolling pin to flatten and spread it a little. This helps reduce the cooking time. Slice the hard garlic butter into four pieces and put one inside each chicken breast – cutting the butter to fit the hole if necessary. Use the fillets to close up the breasts.
4. Carefully dip each stuffed breast in milk, then flour, then egg. Finally, give it a good coating of breadcrumbs. If you have time, chill the kievs for half an hour, then repeat the egg and breadcrumb coating to give a double layer. This makes it particularly hard for any garlic butter to escape, and gives you an extra crisp finish.
5. The breasts need to be fried fairly gently if they are to cook through before the breadcrumbs burn. Heat your oil to 160C in a large sauce pan or deep fat fryer. Fry the kievs, turning occasionally and very carefully, for 12 minutes at least – 15 if you can get away with it – until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper and serve immediately.
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