Chicken Wellington with Red Cabbage

This is my version of a well known classic, the Beef Wellington. I like experimenting with classics but sometimes we need to put our spin on it. Since red meat is something that rarely enters our household, so there goes the beef part of it, then mushrooms ... my hat goes out to all of you that enjoy this fungi, but some of us are just not so keen on them, so scrap the mushrooms. Now you may think ... "How can it be called a Wellington if you just took out some of the main ingredients?" Well maybe you're right I shouldn't call it a Wellington (with all due respect to the classics), but here it is, my so-called Chicken Wellington served with Red Cabbage and Mashed Potatoes. Try it out, and then tell me if you like my spin on it.

For two, you will need ...

1 Large Boneless Chicken Breast (aprox. 300g)
15 pitless black olives
1 package of puff pastry
3 cloves of garlic
1 small red cabbage
1 small red onion
1 egg
2 potatoes
4 prosciutto slices
1/2 cup of red wine
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/2 lemon
2 tbsp. Butter
1/2 cup of milk
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg
Dry Oregano

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 200º C

1. Start by having all your ingredients ready "mise en place", for this particular recipe it's very helpful. 
2. Prepare the utensils you need, 2 frying pans (1 for chicken and 1 for cabbage) 1 microwave bowl, 1 roasting pan, knives, cutting boards, plastic wrap, bowl.
3. Cut up your cabbage in 1 cm thick slices
4. Cut your potatoes with the skin on in half
5. Season chicken with salt and pepper (easy on the salt, as the prosciutto is salty)
6. In a small frying pan add a bit of olive oil and place the chicken breast, allow to cook on medium heat about 5 minutes each side. When done let it rest.
7. In a mini food processor, add 2 cloves of garlic, olives, 1 tbsp. of olive oil, salt, a pinch of dry oregano.  Pulse it until you have a course mixture. 
8. On the counter top (or table top) place plastic wrap (about 40 cm), align the 4 prosciutto slices and spread the olive mixture on top.
9. Place the chicken on top of the prosciutto, and with the help of the plastic wrap start rolling and tucking  to have a secure tight roll. Set aside in the refrigerator.
10. Start on the cabbage: Add about 2 tbsp. of olive oil, the red wine, the vinegar, the cabbage, onion, 1 clove of garlic finely chopped, salt and pepper, to a deep frying pan. On high heat cover the pan until it starts boiling, then reduce to medium heat and allow to cook well covered until the chicken is ready.
11. Mashed Potatoes: Here's an easy way, in a microwaveable bowl add the potatoes cut in half with the skin on, and half a lemon. Cover with plastic wrap, and cook on high (900 W) for 13 minutes. 
12. Remove the puff pastry from the package (depending on the brand some already come with wax paper so that you don't need to dust the counter top with flour, if not, add a bit of flour to the counter top.) Carefully remove the plastic wrap from the chicken and place the roll in the middle of the pastry, wrap the pastry around the chicken tucking in the sides. With scraps of pastry decorate the top of the roll.
13. Place the chicken in a roasting pan and with the egg wash brush the whole roll.
14. Let cook in the oven for 20 minutes.
15. When the potatoes are done add the milk, butter, salt and nutmeg and mash until you have the desired consistency. 
16. Remove the cabbage from the heat.
17. Remove the chicken from the oven and serve with the cabbage and mashed potatoes.

Sounds complicated, but really isn't, I just wanted to give you a detailed step by step for this recipe, obviously you too can make it your own.