But ladies and gentlemen, after a brief hiatus, I am back! And ready to cook!
My family was just here from Michigan and for our "Christmas dinner", my dad and I cooked a series of small plates. This first post is a modified version of a Giada De Laurentiis recipe for Chicken Saltimbocca. It's basically thin chicken cutlets rolled up with yummy stuff and then cooked in chicken broth.
Cheesy Factor (1 no cheese, 10 all cheese): 2
Time Factor (1 shortest, 10 longest): 4
Dummy Factor (1 easiest, 10 hardest): 4
Chicken Saltimbocca
(6 servings)
6 3-oz chicken cutlets, pounded evenly to flatten
6 super-thin sliced pieces of proscuitto
half bag or so of fresh baby spinach
1/4 cup grated parmesean cheese
About 2 cups of chicken broth (low sodium if possible)
Juice from 1/2 lemon
salt/pepper
olive oil
After pounding out the chicken cutlets to flatten, place them on a workspace, season with salt and pepper, and top with a piece of the proscuitto. In a small saute pan, add 1 Tbl olive oil to pan over medium heat, and saute spinach. Then remove from heat, take spinach and arrange in even lay across each chicken piece, on top of the proscuitto. Sprinkle the Parmesean cheese over the spinach. Then, starting with the small end of the chicken, roll the chicken and toppings, and secure with a toothpick.
Heat 2 Tbl of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes each side. Add the chicken broth and the lemon juice, and then using a wooden spoon, scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the browned bits up. Bring the liquid to the boil, then reduce heat to medium. Cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 8-10 minutes, turning chicken 2-3 times throughout. Transfer the chicken to a platter, and continue to simmer liquid over high heat for 2-3 more minutes. Serve without toothpicks, and drizzled with chicken broth liquid.
Oh this is so yummy. And very salty, I might add, so try and use the low-sodium broth if you can, but if not, don't worry about it.
* NOTE: I'm going to put this in another post, but save the liquid from the pan when done with this dish. Just put it in some tupperware and put in fridge.
