Cowboy cornbread chicken

Cut the three large chicken breasts lengthwise in half into two even strips.

In a bowl, drizzle with a little olive oil and season generously with salt, black pepper and chipotle; mix and refrigerate.

Melt a stick of butter over medium high in a cast iron or other oven-safe pan; add a diced onion and a big pinch of salt and cook, stirring, a couple of minutes until softened and translucent.

Drop to medium, add red and green bell pepper and minced garlic and cook about two minutes, until the peppers just soften. Turn off the heat.

Reserve three or four spoons of the pepper mixture in a small bowl for the top. Let the pan cool about five minutes.

Whisk the self-rising flour, cornmeal and a little salt about 30 seconds.

Into the pan, add about three tablespoons of honey, the buttermilk and two beaten eggs; whisk until evenly combined.

Add the dry ingredients and mix gently with a spatula only until the flour disappears, so as not to overmix. Scrape down the sides and level the surface.

Press the seasoned chicken pieces down into the batter in an evenly spaced spiral; spoon three or four spoons of batter into the centre where the thinnest pieces meet.

Scatter over the reserved pepper and onion mixture and sprinkle with grated Monterey Jack.

Bake in the upper centre of a 400 degree oven 40 to 45 minutes, until the chicken is cooked and the cornbread browned.

Garnish with freshly sliced green onions.

Serve with hot honey butter: equal parts butter and honey heated in a pan, spiked with chipotle and a shake of cayenne.