Have you tried cooking en papillote? (Chicken breast in a parcel)

French cooks are very keen on cooking almost everything en papillote, in a parcel of baking paper. I often cook fish this way which is super to seal in moisture and taste. The following recipe is with chicken breast, and the result was surprisingly good. It is important of course that the chicken breast is tender. I have found that the tenderness is somewhat variable here, it seems that in France taste is sometimes more important than tenderness. I wonder if others have similar experiences.

2 servings

2 skinless chicken breasts
2 nice slices mozzarella
4 extra thin slices of Parma ham
2 mandarins or clementines, peeled and thinly sliced
60 ml white wine
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 tsp olive oil
Black pepper, freshly ground
Fresh basil leaves or chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 210 ⁰ C.

In a pan, sauté the chicken breasts in rapeseed oil about 5 minutes on both sides until golden brown. Set aside on a plate. In the same pan cook the mandarin slices in white wine about 5 minutes.

Cut two squares, about 30 x 30 cm, out of baking paper. Place the chicken breasts on the baking paper squares. Top with the mozzarella slices and wrap with the Parma ham slices. Grind a few rounds black pepper and drizzle 1 tsp olive oil on each breast. Arrange the mandarins around the chicken breasts. Scatter basil leaves over the chicken, save some for the final decoration.

Wrap the baking paper into tight parcels and cook in oven for about 15 minutes. Serve with brown rice.