Chicken Saltimbocca 🇮🇹

 

Go Italian tonight and transform ordinary chicken breasts into something exciting for dinner.  Grab some prosciuttos, a handful of sage, half a glass of wine, some chicken stock and a kitchen mallet, and you are good to go.  Saltimbocca literally means 'jump-in-the-mouth', referring to its amazing flavour, which I can attest to.  The chicken breast is sliced horizontally into fillets, then pounded thin with a mallet so they cook quickly in the pan with slices of prosciutto wrapped around them.  When the prosciuttos crisp up and the aroma of the sage tucked up inside the parcels has been released by the heat, they give the dish all the seasoning it needs.  Marsala, a fortified Italian wine is used traditionally to make the sauce, but failing that, any white wine would do.  Veal steaks would also be brilliant for this recipe.

Makes 6

   

                                

INGREDIENTS

• 2 chicken breasts with skins removed, about 300g / 10 oz each
• 6 thin slices of prosciutto
• a handful of sage leaves
• ¼ cup plain four
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 20g / 1oz butter
• 100ml / 3 fl oz Marsala, or white wine
• 100ml / 3 fl oz chicken stock
• freshly ground black pepper

METHOD

1. Slice each chicken breast horizontally into three thin fillets.  (If you are using smaller breasts, slice them into two halves.)
2. Place each chicken fillet between two pieces of baking paper or inside a freezer bag.  Using the flat side of a kitchen mallet or a rolling pin, pound them to flatten evenly.
3. On a large wooden board, line slices of prosciutto and lay a fillet of chicken on top of each slice.
4. Press a few sage leaves onto the top of each chicken fillet.  Season each fillet with a sprinkle of freshly ground pepper.
5. Fold each chicken fillet in half into a parcel.  Pound each parcel gently with the mallet to hold them together.  Lightly dust both sides of the chicken parcels with flour.
6. Heat oil in a large frying pan to medium-high.  Add the chicken parcels to the pan.  Cook for 1-2 minutes or until the prosciuttos crisp up nicely, then turn over to the other side.  Add butter to the pan.  Cook the chicken for a further minute.
7. Reduce heat to medium.  Pour the Marsala or white wine in and let it bubble and reduce to deglaze.  Add the stock.  Bring to a boil, then simmer until the sauce thickens slightly.
8. Serve the chicken saltimbocca with mashed potatoes or polenta.  Pour the sauce over the top.

*If you don't have a pan large enough to cook all the parcels at one time, cook them in two batches.

 

Source (with adaptations): Justine Schofield's Everyday Gourmet