Lara and I were challenged to dream up a tasty and innovative picnic food recipe using some summery Unilever products. This spicy chicken florentine ring was inspired by a recent Pampered Chef party I hosted, its my own spicy twist and is incredibly easy to make. Lara enjoys laying out the ring of the dough and dolloping on the mixture. This ring works REALLY well when you chill it and eat it for lunch the next day... in fact, I think it tastes best that way.
SPICY CHICKEN FLORENTINE RING (makes 12 slices)
INGREDIENTS
225g skinless boneless pre-cooked chicken breasts
4 spring onions
1/2 a red pepper
280g frozen chopped spinach (weighed before defrosting)
1 egg
115g mature cheddar cheese, grated
3 tablespoons Hellmann's Mayonnaise with a Spark of Chilli
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 packets of chilled ready-to-roll croissant dough
3 tablespoons Colman's Sweet Chilli Mango Sauce
METHOD
1. Preheat your oven to 190 degrees centigrade (a little lower for a fan oven).
2. Coarsely chop the cooked chicken breasts into pieces about 1cm cubed. Chop the spring onions and red pepper into similar sized cubes.
3. Squeeze the defrosted spinach dry and then coarsely chop it and add it to the other ingredients.
4. Mix the Hellmann's Mayonnaise with a Spark of Chilli and the curry powder with the dry ingredients.
5. Lightly beat the egg and then add in two thirds of the grated cheese and mix everything together; add salt and pepper to taste.
6.On a large baking tray or pizza stone, lay out the triangles of croissant dough in a circle with the wide ends of the triangles in the centre to form a ring. Let the points of the triangles point outwards and dangle off the edge of the baking tray.
7. Spoon the chicken curry mixture onto each of the triangles into 12 lumps and then use the back of the spoon to spread the mixture out into a circle.
8. Fold the points of the triangles in and over the mixture, tucking them under the centre of the circle.
9. Brush the Colman's Sweet Chilli Mango Sauce over the ring to form a glaze and then sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese.
10. Bake in the middle of the oven for approximately 25 minutes until golden.
11. Once cooled, this makes a perfect picnic centre-piece (but if you can't find a picnic box big enough to fit it in, you can cut it into 12 chunks!) I like a little extra chilli sauce for dipping!
SPICY CHICKEN FLORENTINE RING (makes 12 slices)
INGREDIENTS
225g skinless boneless pre-cooked chicken breasts
4 spring onions
1/2 a red pepper
280g frozen chopped spinach (weighed before defrosting)
1 egg
115g mature cheddar cheese, grated
3 tablespoons Hellmann's Mayonnaise with a Spark of Chilli
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 packets of chilled ready-to-roll croissant dough
3 tablespoons Colman's Sweet Chilli Mango Sauce
METHOD
1. Preheat your oven to 190 degrees centigrade (a little lower for a fan oven).
2. Coarsely chop the cooked chicken breasts into pieces about 1cm cubed. Chop the spring onions and red pepper into similar sized cubes.
3. Squeeze the defrosted spinach dry and then coarsely chop it and add it to the other ingredients.
4. Mix the Hellmann's Mayonnaise with a Spark of Chilli and the curry powder with the dry ingredients.
5. Lightly beat the egg and then add in two thirds of the grated cheese and mix everything together; add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Spoon the chicken curry mixture onto each of the triangles into 12 lumps and then use the back of the spoon to spread the mixture out into a circle.
8. Fold the points of the triangles in and over the mixture, tucking them under the centre of the circle.
9. Brush the Colman's Sweet Chilli Mango Sauce over the ring to form a glaze and then sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese.
10. Bake in the middle of the oven for approximately 25 minutes until golden.
11. Once cooled, this makes a perfect picnic centre-piece (but if you can't find a picnic box big enough to fit it in, you can cut it into 12 chunks!) I like a little extra chilli sauce for dipping!
