stuffed toa (chicken)

It's often when the pantry, fridge and freezer is running dry that I get most creative in the kitchen. Most of the time I have no idea what I am going to cook for dinner till I get home and open the freezer. One of the key things about my cooking is that it has to be quick. I get home from work around 5:30 - 6 and need to have the children fed and in bed by 7:30 on a school night. Of course asking the husband if he had any preference is useless because it's always "anything" - not very helpful. Tonight was one of those nights and husband thinks that tonight's dinner is worthy of a spot on the blog. I have to apologise that I don't use precise measurements.

8 pieces of Boneless chicken
Bunch of coriander (use the whole plant including the roots) chopped finely
2 tablespoon sundried tomatoes (I used the one in olive oil) - finely chopped
125g chopped bacon
4 cloves garlic - crushed
1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
2  cups couscous
3  cups boiling water
2 button mushroom (only because that's how many I had left and I wanted to use it up before it goes bad as they are super expensive here in Fiji)
1 bottle pasta sauce
1 carrot
Toothpicks

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200° C
2. In a bowl combine coriander, sun dried tomatoes, bacon, Parmesan cheese, garlic. Set aside.
3. Loosely wrap each boneless chicken pieces in cling wrap and beat till flat and thin using a meat tenderiser (this is to keep the chicken from falling apart).
4. Scoop a spoonful of the bacon and coriander mixture in the centre of the chicken and roll it close using toothpicks to hold it in place.
5. Lay the chicken in a deep oven proof dish. Pour in the pasta sauce around the chicken and cook (about 30 min).
6. Turn chicken over at the 15min point. Have your chicken sitting in the middle of the oven as having sitting too high could burn the chicken on the outside and raw on the inside.
7. Whilst the chicken is cooking. Put couscous in a pot. Throw in any left over stuffing mixture, chopped mushrooms and finely chopped carrots. Mix well. Add boiling water and cover till Chicken is cooked. Serve immediately. 

Makes 8


notes and local shopping tip:

• when i do my fortnightly shopping, i usually buy a few packets of boneless chicken from Cost U Less as they don't take up too much space and great for last-minute don't quite know what to cook days.
• the sundried tomatoes in olive oil is also from Cost U Less.
• parmesan cheese is hard to come by in Fiji so if you see some, get more than 1 packet because chances are they wont be there the next time you come around.
• couscous from Cost U Less and Lazy Chef in Flagstaff
• i would probably have used basil instead of coriander but my basil plant is not looking so great at the moment so had to substitute with coriander/cilantro. morris hedstrom and lazy chef usually stock fresh basil.