A GLOBALISED GUIDE TO THE BEST IN FOOD: COOKING IT, EATING IT AND ENJOYING IT!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Chicken Saltimbocca




The classic version of this delicious Italian dish calls for veal, but it is pretty damn good with chicken. I have also used flattened pork fillets and it worked well.

The Real Nick can probably tell us what the name of the dish means if we ask him nicely!

There is something incredibly satisfying eating a luscious roll of golden chicken with cheese oozing out and a sweet, strong thick sauce. This is great wholesome fare.


You will need:

4 chicken breasts (or veal or pork)
4 slices prosciutto or parma ham
100g fresh mozzarella or gruyere cheese.
8 sage leaves
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp EV olive oil
25g butter
50ml marsala sherry
100ml white wine
50ml good chicken stock


And then you need to:

Lay the chicken breasts one at a time on a wooden board, cover with a sheet of clingfilm and using a rolling pin flatten it out by giving it a damn good beating. Ohh yeesssss!

Sorry, where was I?

Then lay a slice or prosciutto and a quarter of the cheese on top and press it down. Lay 2 sage leaves on top and gently roll up the fillet so that the cheese/ham is on the inside. If you need to ‘pin’ it closed with a cocktail stick.

Put the flour on a flat plate and season it with a good grind of sea salt and black pepper.

Roll the fillets in the seasoned flour.

Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the butter and the oil. When hot add the chicken and cook for about 3 mins on each side until golden. Add the marsala, stock and wine and cook for about 5mins until the chicken is cooked through. You can add 1 tbsp of double cream as well if you want an even richer sauce.

Remove the chicken fillets and place on warmed plates. Turn up the heat to quickly reduce the liquid left until you have quite a thick sauce. Pour over the chicken fillets and serve with mashed potatoes.

What I quite like to do is place a dollop of basic tomato sauce in the middle of a warmed plate, then put the chicken on top and then spoon over the sauce. The tomato sauce really brings a wonderful addition to the flavours.

Enjoy!

5 comments:

DXBluey said...

Hi!

I did a load of these for a dinner party a while back - 2 comments to make...

1) Use good chicken! The Spinneys waterlogged breasts were a nightmare to bash flat. A tip - use clingfilm to place under and on top of the breast to keep it from sticking to the bashing device...

2) Instead of only cheese - I mixed it with some pesto - this worked really nicely...

Cheers!

Bluey

Em said...

good way to relieve stress...

hut said...

glad to oblige.

saltimbocca means 'jump into the mouth'
chicken means chicken.

hut said...
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hut said...
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