Butterfly and flatten each breast (cover them with clingwrap before you flatten them – less messy!). Place the feta, spring onions and tomato paste in a bowl and mix well. If you want a smoother texture to the filling, you can put them in a food processor, but I like a filling with some texture. Spread equal amounts of the filling on each breast and then roll op each breast. wrap a piece of bacon around each one to secure. In a large, shallow oven-proof dish, layer very thinly sliced potatoes and onions (you can add cream, but I decided to go for the not-so-rich option!) with salt and pepper to taste. Place the wrapped chicken breasts on the potatoes, cover the dish and bake at 180C for about 50 minutes, or until the chicken is done.
For the sprouts, chop a medium onion and cut up about 4 slices of bacon into small bits (or buy bits o’ bacon!!). Fry these together in a little olive oil till the onions soften and the bacon is just cooked. Remove from the pan and keep warm. Slice each sprout in half and place them cut side down in the frying pan on medium high heat. Leave them until each has browned slightly but do not let them burn. Once all the sprouts have been browned (you may have to do them in batches), put all the sprouts, the bacon and the onion in the pan and add a little water, allowing the sprouts to soften slightly as the water boils off. Something about this way of cooking brings out a fabulous nutty flavour in the sprouts and the promise of bits of bacon does wonders to convert even the most commited sprout-hater!
As regards the chicken, other options are to stick to the original recipe which leaves off the bacon (I think they secured the breasts with toothpicks) and sprinkle them with Parmesan and breadcrumbs, giving a crispy topping. Or my other favourite trick is to fill the breasts with lightly fried onion and garlic, copious amounts of boursin cheese and fresh basil leaves, be wrapping them in bacon.
Very nice looking canapes & feta chicken! Happy belated birthday to you, Jeanne!