In possibly one of the most bonkers Barry tries to date I attempt a recipe i’ve been wanting to make for ages – an entire butter encased chicken alfredo! This method is also known as ‘the World’s juiciest chicken’ and involves putting an entire block of chicken into the cheese during baking plus sitting it on a bed of linguine! It was extremely naughty, but tasted surprisingly brilliant!
Start off by getting a large roasting tray that has a good high side on it. Place the pasta on the bottom of the tray and fill up with just enough water to cover the pasta. Leave to one side.
In a mixing bowl add the butter, parmesan, sour cream, parsley and 3 garlic cloves (grate them finely) along with the parsley. Mix this together until well combined, you can use your hands if you wish or an electric whisk. Just make sure it’s super softened and mixed well together. You will still need space to push the chicken into it in a moment, so perhaps have a bigger bowl to hand.
For the chicken, push 2 garlic cloves under the skin of the chicken and also push the block of cheese (slicing it if you have to) into the cavity. Lift the chicken into the bowl of butter and coat fully, place in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Pre-heat an oven to 350f/180c/160fan or equivalent and when ready lift the chicken out of the butter mixture onto the bed of pasta in the roasting pan. If it is not completely covered in the butter, rub some more onto it to cover the whole chicken. You can re-use the butter you have left if you plan to make this again (you may want to!).
Bake for 70 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and golden / slightly charred with the bottom of the pan bubbling in a cheesy, buttery, chicken stock! Carefully remove from the oven. Open the chicken and push out the cheese that has melted and lift the chicken out to carve.
Stir the pasta with all the juices in the bottom of the pan coating it in all the flavour, extremely naughty! Serve chicken pieces with some pasta and a little spoonful of the pan juices which are delicious! Yes this was naughty, but blimey it was worth it, you end up with this crazy cheesy chicken stock kiev type buttery sauce that is very addictive, make it, share it with lots of people when you do, and enjoy!