Chicken Roulade

Turn your oven to 180degC. The rest of the steps take about 15 minutes.

Tie a 5-6cm loop in one end of each piece of twine. You're doing this now because at the point when you really need the loop, your hands will be sticky with chicken and sun-dried tomato.

Fan out the babay spinach leaves onto a plate.

Place the sun-dried tomato strips on a plate.

Place the chicken breasts on your board, and cover them and the board with clingfilm. It doesn't need to be tightly wrapped, but you should ensure you have a wide margin around each side.

With your meat tenderising mallet, whack the chicken breasts until they are about 1cm thick.

Remove the clingfilm and discard.

On each chicken breast, place a layer of the baby spinach leaves. You want to cover it, but not too thickly.

On top of the layer of baby spinach leaves, spread the sun-dried tomato strips on one half.

This is the tricky bit - and why you're glad you put the loop in the twine earlier!

Carefully roll one chicken breast over, to make a sort of a sausage. Take the loop end of one piece of twine, place it at one end of the sausage, thread the other end through and then wrap the length around the rest. Fold the end underneath another part of the string so that it is reasonably tight. Repeat for the other chicken breast.

Heat your frying pan to searing temperature and then add in the oil.

When the oil is hot enough, place the roulades in the pan and let them sear - but do not let them cook.

With your spatula, unstick the roulades, then with the tongs give a 1/3 or 1/4 turn and keep on searing. Repeat until each roulade is seared all over.

Transfer to the baking tray and then place into the oven, on a middle rack. Cook at 180degC for 23 minutes.

At the 23 minute mark, remove from the oven and check that they have cooked through using a meat thermometer. If they have, then rest for 5 minutes before carving. If they have not, then return to the oven for another 3-4 minutes.

Slice into about 1cm thick portions, and serve.