Chicken with crispy Parma ham and beetroot

This dish of chicken breasts wrapped in crispy Parma ham is an extremely easy recipe, but it turns out very tasty and perfect for everyday meals. Wrap, season and accompany with four ingredients and let the oven do the work for you. What do you think of the idea?

The result is succulent breasts, full of contrast with salty, deliciously crispy ham. We serve them with some vegetables, but you are free to choose your favorites to roast while the chicken browns. How delicious well-built simple recipes are! You'll see that the sauce that accompanies it, a very simple arugula sauce, rounds out the dish.

Le Creuset high non-stick oven tray

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts
• 4 slices of Parma ham (alternatively, use Iberian or serrano ham)
• 200 g beetroot
• 1 fennel bulb (about 200 g)
• 300 g small potatoes
• 3 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes in oil
• 5-6 cloves of garlic
• 3-4 sprigs of thyme
• Salt
• Pepper
• Oil

For the arugula sauce:

• 100 g arugula
• 1 lemon
• 1 cup olive oil

Preparation

1. Turn on the oven to preheat to 200 °C, top and bottom heat.
2. Meanwhile, sprinkle a little salt and pepper on the chicken breasts (don't overdo the salt, the ham will also add that touch), and wrap each one with Parma ham.
3. Pour a splash of oil into the bottom of the Le Creuset high non-stick oven tray, and place the breasts in it.
4. On a wooden board, peel the beetroots and cut them into small pieces. Cut the fennel bulb into wedges and halve the potatoes (if you prefer, you can peel them). Remember to reserve the top of the fennel bulb for garnish.
5. Arrange all the vegetables around the breasts in the tray.
6. Scatter the sun-dried tomatoes over the chicken (if you want, you can chop them finely beforehand, or cut them a little). With a spoon, take some of the oil from their jar and pour a little over the vegetables and the breasts.
7. Chop the thyme and sprinkle it on top.
8. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, until the chicken is cooked and the ham looks crispy.
9. Garnish with chopped fennel and serve.
10. Prepare the arugula sauce: chop the arugula finely and place it in a bowl. Add the lemon juice and olive oil, and mix to form a sauce. Pour the arugula sauce over the dish when serving.

Notes

• Do not overdo the oil in the tray, because adding the sun-dried tomatoes in oil will release some as well. Also, you'll add oil when serving, with the arugula sauce, if you prepare it.
• The arugula sauce is optional, but the contrasting flavor of arugula with the ham works really well. I recommend you try it.
• You can use other vegetables! From adding onion or carrot, eggplant or pepper... roasted vegetables are very tasty. Just keep in mind that some vegetables are harder and others softer, which will take more or less time to cook, while the ham-wrapped chicken will be ready in about half an hour and that should dictate timing. So cut the vegetables larger or smaller depending on their firmness (if you add carrot, for example, slice it into half-centimeter rounds or not-too-thick strips to ensure they're roasted by the time the chicken is done).
• You can also make the recipe in an iron casserole or a pan deep skillet. You'll see how, from the heat of the metal, the ham becomes deliciously crispy quickly, but you should have large enough pieces to do it there (as you can see, this roasting tray holds a lot comfortably).