There are two things that are always in my freezer. With working full time and being the cook in the family nothing makes me happier than a freezer stuffed with home made ready meals. However, even when a weekend finds itself filled with fun, friends and hangovers rather than cooking there are still two little stars that are always shoved in the freezer door. Frozen peas and frozen sweetcorn.

The versatility, and often, competitive freshness of these two kitchen staples offers infinite possibilities for throwing something together- and when you add in a couple more regular freezer dwellers, chicken and bacon, this is the delicious result.


Ingredients: 
This makes enough for 6 portions.

3 cups frozen sweetcorn kernels
1 sweet white onion
1 clover garlic
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 cup grated cheese- any mildish white cheese like cheddar.
Salt and pepper- you can use white pepper if you'd rather not have black specks in the creamed corn
6 chicken breasts
18 slices of bacon

Method:

Finely chop the onion and grate the garlic then fry in a little butter in a large frying pan. Keep the heat medium high so that the onions and garlic become soft and translucent but not browned. You want a mellow savoury flavour rather than a very strong bite behind the sweet, creamy corn.

When the onions are soft and glistening pour in the corn and mix well. Again you don't want to colour the corn, cook it gentle. This also encourages the juices from the corn which in turn makes the whole mixture smoother and sweeter.

After about 10 minutes of gentle cooking sprinkle over the flour and mix in throughly, you don't want to come across any pockets of flour in the finished dish! The flour will help to thicken the sauce, as i've mentioned before, American heavy cream is not quite as thick at British double cream. So if making this in Britain you can leave out the flour!
Pour over the cream and stir in, let bubble for a minute or two before adding the cheese. Allow the cheese to melt into the sauce and stir in before tasting to determine your seasoning. The cheese will add some salt so always taste before adding too much.

Remove half the corn into a bowl and blend to a chunky paste- add this back into the frying pan and combine. You should end up with a thick, chunky sauce that has whole piece of corn coated in a smooth, sweet/savoury cream.

Set the creamed corn aside to cool, it will thicken as it does so which make stuffing the chicken easier. Also, if you intend to store the chicken breast rather than cook them immediately, you must make sure the corn is completely cold.

Cut the pockets into the chicken, place the breast with the side that's been cut away from the bird facing up. Pierce the bulbous end of the breast with the point of a large knife and gentle 'stab' the knife down through the length of the breast ensuring the knife does not break either surface of the breast, the sides or pointed end.

Draw the knife out once you reach the end of the breast, if the breasts are thick then return the knife to the cut pocket and widen it delicately with light slices. You want the opening of the pocket to be large enough to allow for a decided stuffing but not that the corn will leak out all over the place when cooked.

Stuff the pockets with as much corn as will fit. Squash the corn right into the end of the chicken, seal the cut end of the pocket by cutting a slice of bacon in half and wrapping it over the cut end. Wrap one full slice around the breast, securing the half slices, completely sealing in the corn. Wrap the other slice around the chicken so it's entirely coated in bacon.

Either pack the chicken up to store it in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer or bake in a preheated oven of 380F for 25-30 minutes. If the bacon isn't completely crisp then finish the chicken under the grill or in a hot frying pan before serving.

This is like the creamy comfort food version of a chicken Kiev, if the garlic butter is creamed corn and the breadcrumbs are bacon. And we all know that bacon make everything better.